With the advent of the Bessemer convertor and There was a lot of interest in continuous casting

the Open Hearth, Steelmaking grew. The of metals from the late 19th century. The earlier
Bessemer process did not survive due to the inventions were with cast iron moulds. Then
high Nitrogen, but the Open Hearth did. It had they switched to copper moulds and then
very long cycle times. Thus it was not very casters with bending.
conducive for the growth of continuous casting.
Not until the invention of the BOF, which was
abetted by many other inventions (like
fractional distillation and mass spectroscopy)
was liquid steel available at quicker time
intervals.

Steel posed difficulties in casting due to its Types of casters… as shown in the image.
sticky nature. Liquid steel stuck to the mould Sections cast .. as shown in the image
and caused breakouts during withdrawal. With
the invention of the oscillating mould in the
mid 1930s continuous casting of steel became
more commercially viable. This along with the
invention of the LD process at around the same
time caused the rapid rise of continuous casting
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Turret – to ensure continuous supply of liquid An independent arm turret – both arms move
steel independently
A butterfly turret – both arms move together,

Tundish – Liquid steel container between the Tundish furniture – to help in inclusion
turret and the mould. Holds enough liquid to floatation.
ensure casting continuously.
Helps in inclusion floatation.
Helps control flow of liquid steel into the
mould.

Submerged Entry Nozzle of Thin Slab Caster Submerged Entry Nozzle of Billet Caster
Submerged Entry Nozzle of slab caster with Stopper Rod which controls the flow of liquid
auto powder feeder. Mould powder acts as a steel into the mould
lubricant as well as insulation and a protective
layer that prevents re-oxidation.

Open casting – view of billet caster with open Moulds

casting. Liquid falls freely into the mould. Level Billet – tube type. Inside a stainless steel jacket
in the mould is controlled by accelerating and with water flowing all around the mould.
decelerating the withdrawal rolls as there is no Slab and thin slab – plate type with water
stopper rod inside the tundish. flowing in grooved along the outside.

Most popular type of metal level control in the Oscillation systems – hydraulic and electro
mould is with a radioactive gamma ray source mechanical. This keeps the metal from sticking
and a scintillating counter. When the metal fills in the mould.
the mould, the gamma rays get thwarted from
going across and the caster is calibrated based
on the amount of metal in the mould.
Overall view of a slab caster. Turret with ladle
at the top and the secondary cooling chamber
below. Slab exits at the bottom.
Withdrawal
Series of rolls that extract the casting strand
from the mould
Deburring - Burr caused by gas cutting is
knocked of by rotating knives
Secondary cooling
Slab and thin slabs – series of support rolls
interspaced with cooling water nozzles. Support
rolls prevent bulging.
Billet – only water nozzles. Small section, so
lesser problems of bulging.
Strand cut by torches in billet and slab
Strand cut by shear in thin slab caster
Slab is marked by painting.
Billets are marked by punching.
Thin slabs go straight for rolling so no marking
needed. There is no option for stacking the
slab.
Thin slabs go straight into the reheating furnace
and then for rolling
Slabs can either be hot charged or kept for
inspection and dressing by scarfing or grinding.
Billets not hot charged are cooled in a rotating
turn over cooling bed. This prevents billets from
getting bent
An operational problem: A breakout is a
containment loss of liquid steel during casting.
Inside the mould around 10 to15% of the cross-
section solidifies. In case the liquid that is
within breaches the outer skin its called a
breakout. All the liquid steel held inside
escapes into the cooling chamber causing lots
of loss.