Effect of titanium content on the refinement of coarse columnar austenite grains during the solidification of peritectic steel

The effect of titanium content on the refinement of austenite grain size in as-cast peritectic carbon steel was investigated by fast directional solidification experiments with simulating the solidification and growth of surface and subsurface austenite in continuously cast slabs.Transmission electron microscope(TEM)and scanning electron microscope(SEM)were used to analyze the size and distribution of Ti(C,N)precipitates during solidification.Based on these results,the pinning pressure of Ti(C,N)precipitates on the growth of coarse columnar grains(CCGs)was studied.The results show that the austenite microstructure of as-cast peritectic carbon steel is mainly composed of the regions of CCGs and fine columnar grains(FCGs).Increasing the content of titanium reduces the region and the short axis of the CCGs.When the content of titanium is 0.09wt%,there is no CCG region.Dispersed microscale particles will firstly form in the liquid,which will decrease the transition temperature from FCGs to CCGs.The chain-like nanoscale Ti(C,N)will precipitate with the decrease of the transition temperature.Furthermore,calculations shows that the refinement of the CCGs is caused by the pinning effect of Ti(C,N)precipitates.

The optimization of mold fluxes used for casting the peritectic steel of heavy slabs at Baosteel

In order to solve the problem of the high surface longitudinal crack ratio of heavy peritectic steel slabs produced by the No. 3 continuous caster at Baosteel,the physical properties of the original mold flux and the optimized mold flux were compared in a comprehensive way by using analytical measures, such as a slag film heat-flow simulator, a thermowire molten flux crystallization tester and an X-ray diffractometer in the laboratory. The results reveal that one of the major reasons for the cracks is the poor heat transfer ability of the original mold flux. However, the optimized mold flux with a high basicity features a high crystallizing rate,low crystallization temperature and low heat-flow density. Therefore, the optimized mold flux is more suitable for casting peritectic steel by the heavy slab continuous caster. The test results show that the slabs produced by using the optimized mold flux had no surface longitudinal crack in four test casts, while the surface longitudinal crack ratio of the slabs produced by using the original mold flux was 5%. The optimized mold flux can effectively prevent slab surface longitudinal cracks from occurring.

Simulation of thermal behavior during peritectic steel solidification in slab continuous casting mold

Thermal behavior of the solidifying shell in continuous casting mold is very important to final steel products.In the present work,one two-dimension transient thermal-mechanical finite element model was developed to simulate the thermal behavior of peritectic steel solidifying in slab continuous casting mold by using the sequential coupling method.In this model,the steel physical properties at high temperature was gotten from the micro-segregation model withδ/γtransformation in mushy zone,and the heat flux was obtained according to the displacement between the surface of solidifying shell and the hot face of mold as solidification contraction,the liquid-solid structure and distribution of mold flux,and the temperature distribution of slab surface and mold hot face,in addition,the rate-dependent elastic-viscoplastic constitutive equation was applied to account for the evolution of shell stress in the mold.With this model,the variation characteristics of surface temperature,heat flux, and growth of the solidifying shell corner,as well as the thickness distribution of the liquid flux,solidified flux,air gap and the corresponding thermal resistance were described.

Properties of High Basicity Mold Fluxes for Peritectic Steel Slab Casting

In high speed continuous casting of peritectic steel slabs, mold fluxes with high basicity are required for less surface defect product. However, the basicity of remaining liquid slag film tends to decrease in casting process because of the crystallization of 3CaO ·2SiO2 · CaF2. Thus, a way is put forward to improve mold fluxesr properties by raising the original basicity. In order to confirm the possibility of this method, the effect of rising original basicity on the properties of mold fluxes is discussed. Properties of high fluorine based mold fluxes with different basicities and contents of CaF2 , Na2 O, and MgO were measured, respectively. Then, properties of higher basicity mold fluxes were discussed and compared with traditional ones. The results show that increasing the basicity index can improve the melting and flow property of mold fluxes. With the increasing basicity, crystallization rate of mold fluxes increases obviously and crystallization temperature tends to decrease when the basicity exceeds 1.35. The method presen- ted before is proved as a potential way to resolve the contradiction between horizontal heat transfer controlling and solidified shell lubricating for peritectic steel slab casting. But further study on improving the flow property of liquid slag is needed. This work can be used to guide mold fluxes design for high speed continuous casting of peritectic steel slabs.

Effect of Al_(2)O_(3)/Na_(2)O ratio and MnO on high-temperature properties of mold flux for casting peritectic steel

The influences of Al_(2)O_(3)/Na_(2)O ratio and MnO content on high-temperature properties,such as melting,crystallization,heat transfer,and viscosity of mold flux for casting peritectic steel,have been investigated.The results show that the melting temperatures of mold flux decrease,whereas the ratio of crystalline layers increases with the decrease in Al_(2)O_(3)/Na_(2)O ratio and increase in MnO content.The average response temperatures of the three mold fluxes decrease from 566,525,to 512℃,respectively,which indicates that the heat transfer controlling ability of mold flux is promoted due to the increase in crystallization ability and addition of transition metal oxide MnO.Furthermore,the viscosity-temperature curves suggest that the viscosity at 1300℃ decreases,but the break temperature increases with the reduction in Al_(2)O_(3)/Na_(2)O and addition of MnO.

Numerical Simulation on Thermal Stress Field in a Wide Slab Mould of Peritectic Steel Continuous Casting

A numerical simulation of the thermal stress field of the solidified shell in the mold during continuous casting of peritectic steel slab was calculated.The results showed,owing to the volume contraction caused by the peritectic reaction,the thermal stress on the wide surface of the solidified shell was larger for the peritectic steel slab than that for the non-peritectic steel,and the maximum thermal stress on the wide face was at the 200-400mm position away from the central line.With increment of slab width,the thermal stress increased and the maximum value moved towards the central line.In addition,the thermal stress was also affected by the casting operation parameters.In the present work,the proper drawing speed was around 1.2m/min for the wide slab of 3200mm×150mm,with the cooling intensity of 5500L/min and the superheat degree of 15℃ to 25℃.

Solidification and crystallization properties of CaO-SiO_2-Na_2O based mold fluxes

Crystallization properties play an important role in keeping a smooth running of continuous casting process and high surface quality of cast strands. To reduce fluorine pollution in slag, a new type of CaO-SiO2-Na2O （CSN） based mold flux was studied. The solidification and crystallization properties, including crystallization temperature, crystallization ratio and solidification mineragraphy, were measured, which were compared with the CaO-SiO2-CaF2 （GF） mold flux. The results show that the crystallization performance is equal to the high fluoride mold powder and CSN can be used for peritectic steel grades sensitive to longitudinal cracking in continuous casting.

Analysis on Surface Longitudinal Cracking of Q345D Slab

The surface longitudinal cracking of peritectic steel Q345 D slab was studied by means of metallographic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the surface longitudinal cracking is caused by the shell repeatedly tearing and healing under the action of stress, which is due to disruption of the steel matrix continuity with inclusion aggregation on the shell surface. The relative precautions of reducing the cracking are raised according to the practical situation.

Solidification Properties of CaO-SiO_2-TiO_2 Based Mold Fluxes

In continuous casting of peritectic steel grades sensitive to longitudinal cracking, the solidification properties of mold fluxes play an important role in keeping smooth running of continuous casting process and achieving high surface quality of casting strands. To reduce fluorine pollution in molten slag, types of CaO-SiO2-TiO2 （CTS） based mold fluxes were investigated. The solidification and crystallization properties, including viscosity η at 1 573 K, break temperature Tbr, crystallization ratio Rc and solidification mineragraphy were measured, which were compared with those of CaO-SiO2-CaF2 based mold fluxes. The experiments show that there are unstable viscosity-high tem- perature properties and high Tbr in part of CTS slag system, which are bad for lubrication between liquid flux film and strand. And when temperature is below Tbr, the viscosities change slowly during cooling in some part of this slag system, which imply that liquid mold fluxes solidify slowly and it is easy to cause surface longitudinal cracks on strand. Major mineragraphy of the CaO-SiO2-TiO2 based mold fluxes are CaO · TiO2 or CaO · TiO2 and CaO · SiO2 · TiO2. TiN and Ti（C,N） can be formed in mold fluxes bearing high TiO2 during the continuous casting.