The future of the twin-roll strip casting and rolling process

Twin-roll strip casting and rolling is a typical near-net-shape steel manufacturing process.The twin-roll strip casting and rolling of low-carbon steel strips has made a number of breakthroughs and achieved significant results during the past 20 years.Baosteel has been paying close attention to the development of this technology and set up a research and development project focused on its industrialization in 2001.The Ningbosteel-Baosteel strip casting industrialization demo project(NBS),which was launched in 2016,marks the strip-casting technology(registered as Baostrip) developed by Baosteel as having reached an advanced international level after 15 years of effort.This paper summarizes the results obtained in the industrialized demonstration plant and considers the future development of strip casting and rolling.

Microstructure of shot-blasting casting roll and effect on strip solidification during strip-casting process

In the strip-casting process,the surface topography of the casting roll has a significant influence on the solidification microstructure and surface quality of the as-cast strip. Shot-blasting treatment is an important way to achieve a suitable surface topography on the casting roll. In this study,a casting roll of beryllium copper alloy was shot blasted using steel pellets in the laboratory,resulting in a randomly distributed discontinuous peak and dent surface topography,in which cold deformation-slip bands and fine-deformation twins were formed. The thickness of the deformed copper alloy was about 100 μm during the shot-blasting process,and the copper hardness value increased significantly within 40 μm of the surface,with a maximum increase of more than 20% compared to the mean substrate hardness value. Within 60-100 μm of the surface,the hardness at the peak position was still higher than the copper substrate mean value,but the hardness at the dents was not,which was mainly due to the copper alloy slip and twinning deformation mechanisms. The surface hardness was similar to that of the substrate after the shot-blasted sample had been subjected to thermal shock. The molten steel first chilled and nucleated at the surface peaks of the casting roll;furthermore,fine dendrites grew and crossed over the middle of the dents. Therefore,the peak intervals of the shot-blasted surface are an important factor in solidification quality control.

Industrial trial of strip-casting weathering steel

Baostrip has chosen a steel-grade weathering steel for industrial trial. By carefully designing the composition and manufacturing process,qualified weathering-steel products have been successfully produced on the Ningbosteel-Baosteel strip casting industrialization demo project( NBS) production line. The industrialized practice of Baostrip shows the following: The surface microstructure of weathering-steel products is polygonal ferrite +pearlite,and that of the center is acicular ferrite. After single-stand on-line hot rolling at a 26% low pressure rate,the thickness tolerance ratio controlled within ± 25 μm reaches 99. 6%. The surface convexity and the wedge can be controlled to | C40 |< 50 μm and | W40 |< 30 μm,respectively. The mechanical properties of the strip are superior,exhibiting a yield strength range of( 430 ± 50) MPa,a tensile strength range of( 550 ± 50) MPa,and an elongation range of( 27 ± 5)%. The corrosion resistance is equivalent to that of current commercial atmospheric corrosion-resistant steels,with a relative corrosion rate of 43%. When used,the weathering steel produced by the strip-casting process meets the strict quality and usage requirements of container steel sheets.

Study of influence of ladle condition on molten steel during strip casting

A model of the heat transfer between molten steel and the ladle lining was established for the strip casting process,which involves a series of different operations. These operations include preheating,ladle tapping,ladle waiting,blowing of argon gas,and ladle pouring. To simulate the process of pouring molten steel,the geometric deformation( moving grid) technique was used in the model. Moreover,the model considers the heat absorption effect of argon gas and the formation of open eyes during argon blowing. Note that the model was used to compare the effect of different parameter values,including different preheating temperatures,tapping temperature,and argon blowing rates. The results indicate that the argon blowing rate has considerable influence on the decrease in the temperature of molten steel.

Wear analysis of a side dam in twin-roll strip casting

Reducing wear on a side dam can prolong the casting operation life of a twin-roll strip casting process,thus reducing production cost and improving casting stability.To lengthen the service life of the side dam,it is necessary to understand the wear performance of the side dam material.To investigate the wear behavior mechanism of the side dam,in this study,the UMT-2 friction and wear tester was used to determine the relationship between the wear rate of the side-dam material and various parameters.Based on the roughness of the contact area between the side dam and the end of the casting rolls as well as on the amount of deformation of the side dam,which was derived using a thermal-deformation simulation model,the reasons for the uneven wear of the side dam were obtained.

A unified computational model for surface texturing process of strip casting rollers

A new unified computational method is proposed for modeling the relationship between the parameters of the high-speed particle-impact texturing process and the final surface morphology of the casting roller. The whole surface-texturing process is divided into three parts. The first part is the acceleration process of particles inside and outside the nozzle,which can be analyzed using the computational fluid dynamics method to obtain the particle impact velocities. The second part is a simulation of the bombardment process of particles onto the roller surface using the LS-DYNA software as the analysis tool and the results obtained in the first part as input parameters. The last part is the continuously random impact process of particles on the casting roller surface to form a functional surface,which is characterized by a simplified roughness model. Finally,the above three parts are combined to establish a unified computational model,the performance of which is successfully verified in a series of experiments.

Development and application of model for predicting molten metal temperature in continuous casting process

An unsteady mathematical thermal model was developed for predicting the time,molten-steel weight,induction heating power,and temperature changes of the steel from the end of ladle refining to the end of the continuous-casting process of a tundish. The calculations revealed that for a specific strip-casting process,the ladle tonnage should be controlled to about 90 t. If the ladle capacity reaches 130 t,the provision of a 1 500-kW tundish induction heating device is recommended. By comparing the measured and predicted molten-steel temperature values in the Ningbosteel-Baosteel strip casting industrialization demo project( NBS) of a tundish,it was determined that the prediction accuracy of the model could meet the forecasting accuracy requirements for the molten-steel temperature in the tundish during mass production. Simultaneously,the heat flux density on each surface of the tundish was found at about 50 min,which is entirely consistent with the values reported in the related literature,and the tundish had not reached a heat balance during the casting test period. This model can also be applied to calculate the suitable size of a tundish for a specific continuous-casting process,thereby providing a theoretical basis for the design of the continuous-casting tundish.

Analysis of surface microcracks in low-carbon steel produced via twin-roll strip casting

In this study,morphological and microstructural analyses were conducted on net-shaped microcracks appearing on the surface of low-carbon steel manufactured via twin-roll strip casting. The fractograph and microscale distribution of elements in the cracked region were also analyzed. Results revealed that the cracked surfaces were characterized by slight pits,along with inclusions composed of manganese and silicon oxide distributed along both the sides of the cracks. Fractograph analysis revealed that the crack and smooth dendrite surfaces were oxidized. These phenomena indicate that microcracks on the cast strip surface form at the hightemperature stage of the solidification process during twin-roll casting and rolling. Microcracks were present in each region with pits in the cast strip and extended along the dendrite interface because of the combined effects of phasechange stress,thermal stress,mechanical stress,and fractional crystallization during the solidification process.

Design of a high-precision twin-roll strip caster

During strip casting,the thickness deviation of casting strip directly affects the quality of the hot-rolled sheet because the casting strip needs to be rolled only once.To accurately control the gap between casting rolls and reduce the thickness deviation of the casting strip,a conceptual design of a prestressed twin-roll caster is proposed herein;this caster involves the setting of a constant pressure balancing cylinder between the chocks of two casting rolls.The balancing cylinder hydraulic system adopts a three-way servo valve that controls the hydraulic cylinder.The parameters of the hydraulic power components are determined using the principle of optimal power matching,and the hydraulic system model of the balancing cylinder is thus established.The dynamic analysis and simulation of the hydraulic system are performed using finite element model to obtain relevant evaluation indexes.Finally,the hydraulic system is corrected using proportional-integral-derivative (PID) correction to achieve a well-controlled effect.Thus,the engineering requirements of the strip casting process can be met.