Behavior of Transversal Crack on Slab Corner During V-H Rolling Process

The behavior of transversal cracks on the surface of the slab corner during vertical and horizontal （V-H） rolling process with flat vertical roll and groove vertical roll was simulated by explicit dynamic finite element method. The closure and growth of crack and the contact pressure on surfaces of the crack in contacting zone between slab and roll during rolling process were analyzed. The results showed that during vertical rolling process, when the groove vertical roll is used, the maximum contact pressure on surfaces of the crack is 115 MPa, and the closure of crack is stable when the flat vertical roll is used, the maximum contact pressure on surfaces of the crack is 70 MPa, and it fluctuates greatly. During horizontal rolling process, when groove vertical roll is used, the contact pressure becomes zero which may accelerate the growth of crack when flat vertical roll is used, there is still contact pressure. The cal culated results are in good agreement with the results of test.

Longitudinal surface cracks of thin slabs

Based on the production practice of medium carbon thin slabs in the CSP plant,the reasons and influencing factors for the formation of longitudinal cracks were investigated,and some industrial measures were taken to eliminate the cracks.The results show that the efficient solutions to reduce longitudinal cracks are improving the performance of the mold powder,stabilizing the mold heat flux,and maintaining a proper taper of the mold during casting.Proper pouring temperature and secondary cooling also play important roles in preventing longitudinal surface cracks.

Formation mechanism of internal cracks in continuously cast slab

In order to make clear the formation mechanism of centerline cracks incontinuously cast slabs, the form, distribution and other characteristics of the cracks wereanalyzed. The final solidification point, surface temperature of the slabs and strain in solidifyingshell were investigated. The results were that: (1) Five relatively low temperature zones exist onslab surface below the three water spraying nozzles and near the two edges, respectively, whichcorresponds to the places of centerline cracks and triangle-zone cracks. (2) Centerline cracks andtriangle-zone cracks occur because of weak secondary cooling, uneven cooling along slab width, andlarge variation of roll gap. (3) After minimizing the variation of roll gap and applying the newsecondary cooling pattern, the occurring frequency of centerline and triangle-zone cracks minimizesto zero.

Longitudinal crack on slab surface at straightening stage during continuous casting using finite element method

Deformation behavior of slab at the straightening stage during continuous casting was simulated by the explicit dynamic finite element method,and the stress distribution along the width direction of the slab and its change regularity at slab center during continuous casting were obtained.The influence of distribution and change of stress on the propagation of longitudinal cracks on slab surface was discussed.The results show that the tensional stress appears on slab surface at the inner arc side and the compressive stress appears on slab surface at the outer arc side at stages 6-8 in straightening zone during continuous casting.Longitudinal cracks generally appear on slab top surface and do not appear on slab bottom surface,which are also observed in industry.

Longitudinal surface cracks on continuous casting slabs of P and Cu containing container steel

The fact that the amount of the mold flux components differs at differentlocations on the cracking surface indicates that the longitudinal surface cracks are initiallyformed in the mold and are enlarged in the secondary cooling zone. Based on the hot ductilitymeasurement of two typical container used steels, it is known that the steels are in severeembrittlement state in the temperature range of 825-775 deg C. By means of increasing Cr/Ni platingthickness on the upper part of the mold, reducing mold heat flux, adopting new secondary coolingpattern, etc., the occurrence of the surface longitudinal cracks on the steel CC (continuouscasting) slabs has been significantly reduced.

Preventing Occurrence of Transverse Corner Cracks on Nb, V and Ti Microalloying Steel CC Slabs

Based on their hot ductilities, Nb, V and Ti microalloying steels can be classified into two groups. The first group includes steels with lower carbon content (≤0.10%). Ductilities of steels of this group recover and rise with decreasing temperature when temperature lowers to below 825℃. Another group includes steels which contain more carbon (>0.12%) or contain more Nb and V. The low ductility temperature Region Ⅲ for steels of mis group extends to temperature as low as 725℃. The occurrence of the transverse corner cracks of the Nb, V and Ti microalloying steel CC slabs has be considerably decreased by stabilizing casting speed, increasing mold steel level automatic control ratio,enhancing caster segment radial alignment and adopting proper secondary cooling patterns to make slab corner temperature at straightening out off the low ductility temperature region.

A Model for Diagnosing the Formation of Internal Cracks in Continuously CastSlabs

The internal cracks in continuously cast slabs are attributed to the excessive tensile strain occurring at the solidifying frontduring the continuous casting process. Based on the understanding, a model for diagnosing the formation of the internal cracks was established, in which the strains at the solidifying front caused by' bulging, straightening or unbending, and roll misalignment were calculated and compared with a critical strain value to estimate whether the internal cracks form. Moreover, the established model was appliedto a real slab caster to reveal the distribution of the strains in casting direction and its effect on the internal cracks. It was proved that themodel was reliable and useful for optimizing the operation of continuous casting.

Corner crack mechanism of boron-containing LCAK steel slabs

At Baoshan Iron ＆ Steel Co., Ltd., comer cracks of boron containing LCAK steel slabs had caused remarkable quality loss and mass flow disorder. With the help of fractography and thermodynamics analysis, the embrittlement mechanism of this steel grade was studied and the results are as follows： 1 The transformation from 3＇ to a starts at the austenite grain boundaries and a layer of thin ferrite film gradually forms around the austenite grains. Strain concentration will preferentially start inside the ferrite phase when the stress accumulates to a certain level. 2 The coarse BN particles acceleratedly precipitated at the γ/α interfaces further deteriorate the ductility of the ferrite film, and brittleness results in strain concentration and microvoid coalescence inside the ferrite film. Therefore the austenite grain boundaries are prone to intergranular failure. 3 The stoichiometry among Al, N and B is a very important factor influencing the hot ductility of this steel grade. By controling the B-to-N atomic ratio to above 1, all N can be fixed by B instead of A1. Thus coarsegrained steel is available and fewer grain boundaries and higher ductility can reduce the risk of comer cracks. （4） By adjusting the B-to-N atomic ratio,Baoshan Iron ＆ Steel Co.,Ltd. successfully reduced the number of cracks to nearly one tenth of that in the past and the hot tensile tests confirmed remarkable improvement in the hot ductility of this steel.

COPLANAR CRACKS IN A FINITE TRANSVERSELY ISOTROPIC ELASTIC SLAB UNDER ANTIPLANE SHEARL STRESSES

An antiplane crack problem concerning a pair of coplanar cracks in a finite transversely isotropic elastic slab is considered. Using Fourier integral transform together with singular integral equation which can be solvel numerically by suing a collocation technique. Once the integral equation is solved, the relevant crack energy and stress intensity factors of the problem are given. The analysis present can be easily extended to include cases where there are two or more pairs of coplanar cracks in the slab.

TWO COPLANAR CRACKS IN A TRANSVERSELY ISOTROPIC ELASTIC SLAB SUBJECTED TO ANTIPLANE SHEAR STRESSES

The problem of a transversely isotropic elastic slab containing two coplanar cracks subjected to an antiplane deformation is considered. With the aid of an integral transform technique, we formulate the problem in terms of a finite-part singular integral equation which can be solved numerically, Once the integral equation is solved, relevant quantities such as the crack energy can be readily computed.

A Comparative Study on the Flexural Behaviour of Waffle and Solid Slab Models When Subjected to Point Load

The determinations of flexural behavior of some engineering structures are based on different theories and equations, but it has been observed that some of these equations may not give true representation. This work has looked into the difference that may occur between theoretical and experimental results. An experimental test carried out on models of waffle and solid slabs structures were described and results from twenty test samples are presented. Each specimen was subjected to an incremental axial loading of 1 kN interval after 28 days of casting. The flexural moments, deflections and crack width at failure were obtained. The experimental flexural crack and theoretical flexural cracks for both types of slabs were compared. The result for flexural moments for waffle was 5.526 kNm, while solid slab was 3.684 kNm. The deflections showed that waffle slabs has 3.64 mm while solid has 9.28 mm, hence waffle has a higher structural stiffness than solid slabs, but the flexural cracks did not give the same results especially for the estimated crack width. It was concluded that estimated results based on developed equations may not be accurate because it is based on ideal situation.

Strain in solidifying shell of continuous casting slabs

Two-dimension unsteady heat transfer model was applied to obtain the surfacetemperature and the shell thickness of continuous casting slabs during the process ofsolidification. On the basis of which, the mathematical model of strain at the interface of solidand liquid steel was set up. Through which, the strain in the solidifying shell under normal andabnormal operation conditions was gained. The results indicate that the strain is small under thenormal operation conditions and the internal crack never happens. However, when the variation of theroll gap is above 2 mm, the strain caused by which is greater than that caused by bulging.Furthermore, the total strain exceeds the critical one and the internal crack is the result. So itis of great importance to maintain the fine state of continuous casting machine to avoid theappearance of internal crack.

Damage response of conventionally reinforced two-way spanning concrete slab under eccentric impacting drop weight loading

Reinforced concrete(RC)structures are generally designed to carry quasi-static gravity loads through almost indispensable components namely slab,however,it may be subjected to high intense loads induced from the impact of projectiles generated by the tornado,falling construction equipment,and also from accidental explosions during their construction and service lifespan.Impacts due to rock/boulder falls do occur on the structures located especially in hilly areas.Such loadings are not predictable but may cause severe damage to the slab/structure.It stimulates structural engineers and researchers to investigate and understand the dynamic response of RC structures under such impulsive loading.This research work first investigates the performance of 1000×1000×75 mm^(3)conventionally reinforced two-way spanning normal strength concrete slab with only tension reinforcement(0.88%)under the concentric impact load(1035 N)using the finite element method based computer code,ABAQUS/Explicit-v.6.15.The impact load is delivered to the centroid of the slab using a solid-steel cylindroconical impactor(drop weight)with a flat nose of diameter 40 mm,having a total mass of 105 kg released from a fixed height of 2500 mm.Two popular concrete constitutive models in ABAQUS namely;Holmquist-Johnson-Cook(HJC)and Concrete Damage Plasticity(CDP),with strain rate effects as per fib MODEL CODE 2010,are used to model the concrete material behavior to impact loading and to simulate the damage to the slab.The slab response using these two models is analyzed and compared with the impact test results.The strain rate effect on the reinforcing steel bars has been incorporated in the analysis using the Malvar and Crawford(1998)approach.A classical elastoplastic kinematic idealization is considered to model the steel impactor and support system.Results reveal that the HJC model gives a little overestimation of peak displacement,maximum acceleration,and damage of the slab while the predictions given by the CDP model are in reasonable agreement with the experimental test results/observations available in the open literature.Following the validation of the numerical model,analyses have been extended to further investigate the damage response of the slab under eccentric impact loadings.In addition to the concentric location(P1)of the impacting device,five locations on a quarter of the slab i.e.,two along the diagonal(P2&P3),the other two along the mid-span(P4&P5),and the last one(P6)between P3 and P5,covering the entire slab,are considered.Computational results have been discussed and compared,and the evaluation of the most damaging location(s)of the impact is investigated.It has been found that the most critical location of the impact is not the centroid of the slab but the eccentric one with the eccentricity of 1/6th of the span from the centroid along the mid-span section.

Evaluation of the performance of mold powder for continuous casting of plate slabs

The No. 3 slab caster,which mainly provides slabs to the 5000 mm plate mill at Baosteel, was put into production in December,2004. The size of the biggest slab produced by this caster is 2300 mm in width and 300 mm in thickness. The designed output of the caster is 2.3 Mt/a. Slab surface longitudinal crack defects,which were related to the heat flux of the mold, frequently occurred in the early stage of the startup of the caster. As mild cooling powder is beneficial to the uniformity of the shell of initial slabs ,the concentration of stress is reduced, and the longitudinal cracking on the surface is avoided. This study evaluates the performance of several kinds of powder, and the results show that mold powder of high basicity, high crystallization proportion and low heat flux is to the benefit of the reduction of the longitudinal cracks on the surface and the defects of slabs.

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.

Evolution of Surface Transversal Crack in Intermediate Slabs during Hot Rolling Deformation

In the continuous casting of steels, surface transversal cracks are often found. These defects may severely influence the final quality of the products. The evolution of transversal V-shaped cracks with different depth on the surface of a continuously cast steel slab during hot rolling was studied. The artificial V-shaped cracks were made on the surface. The rolling process parameters from an industrial rolling mill have been used as a reference. The speci- mens of rolled workpiece in intermediate slabs were obtained after different rolling passes. The morphology of sur- face crack and microstructure evolution in the rolling process were investigated by optical microscopy. The results show that the depth of surface transversal crack gradually decreased with the increase of rolling passes. The grain size of ferrite and pearlite on the sample surface also gradually reduced. The microstructures around cracks with the dif ferent depth are almost identical, without direct correlation with the initial crack depth.

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.

Seismic cracking analyses of two types of face slab for concrete-faced rockfill dams

Estimating the cracking capacity of the face slab and recommending effective crack-control measures are important for the anti-seismic safety of concrete-faced rockfill dams(CFRDs). In this paper, two-dimensional analyses of CFRDs are performed to simulate the seismic cracking behavior of conventional reinforced concrete(RC) face slab and a type of composite face slab. The composite face slab is composed of a ductile fiber-reinforced cement-based composite(DFRCC) layer and an RC substrate. For this purpose, a co-axial rotating smeared crack model for concrete and DFRCC is coupled with the generalized plasticity model for the rockfill material, and then implemented in a finite element program. The results show that during strong earthquakes,an RC slab is more likely to develop a penetrating macro-crack in its thickness dimension. In contrast, the crack-controlling composite slab demonstrates excellent resistance to seismic cracking, and no penetrating macro-cracks are observed. Major harmful cracks that form in the concrete substrate are stopped by the DFRCC layer in composite slabs.

Technology Development for Controlling Slab Transverse Corner Crack of Typical Micro-alloyed Steels

A mathematical model for simulating the fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification in the conventional mold and the chamfer mold, together with a finite element stress-strain model in the straightening process of both molds, were established for the typical niobium, vanadium, and titanium micro-alloyed steels. On the basis of both numerical analysis, the mold copper plate with an optimum chamfered shape was designed and applied in industrial tests. The predicted results from numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification in the conven tional mold and the chamfer mold show that the increased chamfered angle leads to an approximately linear increase o[ the slab surface temperature, but it also causes strong flow near the slab corner. Very small chamfered length can lead to a significant increase of the temperature near the slab corner. However, with further increasing the chamfered length, the temperature of the slab corner increased slightly. The calculated results from the finite element analysis of stress-strain during the straightening process show that at the same slope width, the tangential strain on the slat） edges and corners is minimum when the chamfered angle is 30° and 45°, which is only 40° to 46° of rectangular slabs with the same cross-section area. At the same chamfered angle of 30°, when the chamfered length is controlled between 65-85 mm, the tangential strain on the part of the slab edges and corners is relatively smaller. Industrial test results show that the slab corner temperature at straightening segment increases about 100 ℃ by using chamfer mold compared to the conventional molds. The slab transverse corner cracks have been reduced more than 95° in comparison with those in the conventional mold.

Study on Intermediate Crack in Continuous Casting Slab of Medium Carbon Steel

According to the analysis of the macro and micro characteristics of the center of continuous casting blooms by acid wash, SEM, metallographic and scanning-type electron microscope, there was a serious segregation and some shrinkage cavities in the slab; Cracks occurred at the end of the columnar crystal and spread along the boundary of the primary dendrite. At the crack enriched a large number of impurity elements, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, whose crystal boundary segregation is the internal factor of the intermediate cracks. Determining the originated location of intermediate cracks and calculating the total strain in this area during solidification process of slab, it is found that the load is the ex- ternal factor of cracks’ generation and expansion.