MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

CONTINIOUS CASTING: (chapter no. 29… Tupkary)

• It may be defined as teeming of a liquid steel in a short mould

with a false bottom through which partially solidified ingot is
continuously withdrawn at the same rate at which metal is
poured in the mould. ………….Or

• Continuous casting of steel is a process in which liquid steel is

continuously solidified into a strand of metal.

• Depending on the dimensions of the strand, these semi-finished

products are called slabs (flat products, i.e. plate, sheet, coils),
blooms (long products, i.e. bars, beams) and billets (long products,
i.e. bars, channels, wires)
• The process was invented in the 1950s in an attempt to increase the
productivity of steel production. Previously only ingot casting was
available which still has its benefits and advantages but does not
always meet the productivity demands. Since then, continuous
casting has been developed further to improve on yield, quality and
cost efficiency.
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

The advantages of continuous casting over ingot casting are

• Quality of the cast product is better
• No need to have slabbing/blooming or billet mill as required
when ingot casting is used.

• Higher extent of automation is possible

• Width of the slab can be adjusted with the downstream strip mill.

• Continuously cast products show less segregation.

• Hot direct charging of the cast product for rolling is possible

which leads to energy saving
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Arrangement of tundish, mold and water spray in a

Figure 33.1
curved mold machine
Equipments for C.C

1. The Ladle Turret 7. Cutting device

2. The Ladle 8. The auxiliary
3. The Tundish electrical/mechanical
4. Mould gears to help run the
5. The withdrawal rolls machine smoothly
6. Cooling spray
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

• Liquid steel is supplied to the continuous caster from the secondary

steelmaking shop. The ladle is usually delivered by crane and
positioned into a ladle turret, which subsequently rotates the ladle
into the casting position. A slide gate in the bottom of the ladle is
opened to allow the liquid steel to flow via a protective shroud into
a tundish, a vessel that acts as a buffer between the ladle and the
mold.

• As the tundish fills, stopper rods are raised in order to allow the
casting of steel into a set of water-cooled copper molds below the
tundish.

• Solidification begins at the mold walls and the steel is withdrawn

from the mold by a dummy bar.
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

• Throughout the entire casting process, the mold oscillates

vertically in order to separate the solidified steel from the copper
mold.

• The strand is withdrawn from the mold by a set of rolls which

guide the steel through an arc until the strand is horizontal. The
rolls have to be positioned close enough together to avoid bulging
or breaking of the thin shell.

• As the steel leaves the mold, it has only a thin solidified shell which
needs further cooling to complete the solidification process. This is
achieved in the so-called secondary cooling zone, in which a system
of water sprays situated between the rolls are used to deliver a fine
water mist onto the steel surface. At this point, the steel, solidified
shell and liquid center, is called the strand.

• After the strand has been straightened and has fully solidified, it is
torch-cut to pre-determined product lengths. These are either
discharged to a storage area or to the hot rolling mill.
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Layout of Slab:
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Layout of Bloom and Billet:

MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Summary of different components in the continuous

Casting process/ Primary Task Secondary Task

Component
Ladle Transport and hold the Facilitate inclusion
liquid steel removal
Ladle Turret Position full ladles over the Free the cranes for
tundish and remove empty higher productivity
ones
Tundish Act as a buffer between ladle Facilitate inclusion
and mold removal
Mold Cool down the liquid steel to form a solidified shell
Strand System Further cool the strand to fully solidified and
straighten the strand

Table of casting Slab Bloom Billet

machine properties
Type
Steel grade(s) Linepipe Construction Engineering steel
steel steel
ULC steel
Ladle size / metric ton 250 100 100
Radius / m 9 12 8
Number of strands 2 5 6
Casting speed / m min-1 1.0-2.0 1.2 - 1.8 3-5
Cross section dimension / 1200 × 230 250 × 250 130 × 130
mm
Typical use flat long long products, i.e.
products, i.e. products, i.e. bars, channels,
plate, sheet, bars, beams, wires
coils pilings
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Figure: Schematic of continuous casting tundish, SEN and mold

MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

A) Clogging and impurities in tundishes

During continuous casting processes impurities like deoxidation products in the melt deposit at the walls of the tundish
nozzle and the stopper. This phenomenon, termed clogging, causes obstruction of the flow and decreases the quality
of the product. A detailed knowledge of the flow pattern within the tundish nozzle-stopper region is very important for
the design of appropriate nozzle and stopper geometries. By means of a numerical simulation the important influence
of turbulence on the velocity field of the liquid metal in the nozzle region could be demonstrated - most particles close
to the walls are deposited in case of high turbulence. A new design for the nozzle-stopper region reduces turbulence,
prevents recirculation and permits a weaker lateral particle transport. A further mechanism may cause inherent
problems trough formation of sediment layers at the nozzle-walls: the suction of ambient air through the porous
material of the submerged entry-nozzle. A specific test facility was built-up to study the correlation between
different parameters (flow-rate, stopper position) and the pressures prevailing in the nozzle-stopper region.
On the other hand, the tundish itself is very important with respect to the quality improvement through a separation
of inclusions. During the present studies, the flow of liquid steel has been investigated by experiments in a water
model with different flow-control devices and by numerical analysis for both isothermal and non-isothermal conditions.
The experimental studies were intended to enlarge the mean residence time of impurities, and the results could be
validated by the isothermal calculation.
The tundish is not only a distribution vessel, but also a device to collect the impurities in the slag. However, because
of the limited residence time very small deoxidation products are not able to reach the surface due to buoyancy
effects. These particles move through the nozzle into the mold where they may cause abovementioned problems. A
constant mass flow can only be maintained by a permanent change of the stopper position. This results in reduced
productivity and quality, which is particularly severe in aluminium-killed steel.
Appropriate steel quality requires the reduction of impurities in the tundish and, therefore, various efforts are
necessary in order to enhance steel purity during the production process. The removal of inclusions is affected by a
variety of parameters -- the geometry of the tundish and the resulting flow field highly influence the quality of
solidified steel.
The flow behaviour and the residence time of a tundish were studied experimentally in a water model by means of
different visualisation methods. Furthermore, the concentration of a tracer in the tundish nozzle was measured. In
addition, the temperature field was studied numerically by accounting for non-isothermal conditions. Experiments
were performed in a full scale model of the tundish to investigate the influence of flow control devices on particle
separation and residence time. It was found, that it is absolutely necessary to increase the plug flow fraction and to
minimize the stagnant regions in order to improve steel purity. Dam-weir combinations were compared to turbulence
inhibitors, and quite different flow behaviour could be recognized. The turbulence inhibitor creates a uniform flow field
and increases the plug flow fraction, thereby increasing the mean residence time.

Reservoir of molten steel

MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Tundish acts as a reservoir for molten steel. It supplies molten steel in presence of a slag cover to all continuous casting
molds constantly and continuously at constant steel flow rate. The flow rate is maintained constant by maintaining a
constant steel bath height in the tundish through teeming of molten steel from the ladle. The number of mold is either one
or more than one. Normally bloom and billet casting machines are multi-strand i.e. number of molds are either 4 or 6 or 8.
Slab casters usually have either single or two molds. During sequence casting and ladle change- over periods, tundish
supplies molten steel to the molds.

Distributor

Tundish distributes molten steel to different molds of the continuous casting machine at constant flow rant and superheat
which is required for stand similarly with reference to solidification microstructure. Control of superheat is required in all
the moulds to reduce break-out. Location of ladles stream in the tundish is important. It may be located symmetric or
asymmetric to the centre of the tundish depending on the number of mold. For single strand machines, molten stream
enters from one side and exits the other side of the tundish. In multi-strand tundishes, ladle stream is either at the centre
of the tundish or displaced to the width side of the tundish.

Inclusion removal

Tundish helps to remove inclusions during the process of continuous casting. For this purpose liquid steel flow in the
tundish is modified by inserting dams, weirs, slotted dams etc. The whole idea is to utilize the residence time available
before steel leaves the tundish. For example, if capacity of tundish is 40 tons and casting speed is 5 tons/min, then the
average residence time of molten steel in the tundish is 8 minutes. During this average residence time., inclusion removal
can be exercised .For this purpose flow of steel melt in the tundish has to be modified so as to accelerate the inclusion
removal. The Inclusion removal is a two step step unit operation, namely floatation and absorption by a flux added on the
surface of the tundish. Flux is usually rice husk, or fly ash or some synthetic powder. The readers may see the references
given at the end of this lecture for further reading. Figure 33.2 shows a tundish with flow control devices employed to
facilitate inclusion floatation.
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Figure 33.2: Tundish with flow control device, namely weir and slotted dam
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Mold

Mold is the heart of continuous casting. Molten stream enters from the tundish through the submerged nozzle into water
cooled mold in presence of flux. Solidification of steel begins in the mold. The casting powder is added onto the top of
molten steel in the mold. It melts and penetrates between the surface of mold and the solidifying strand to minimize
friction as shown in figure 33.3. Control of height of molten steel in the mould is crucial for the success of the continuous
casting machine. The solidification begins from the meniscus of steel level in the mould. Mold level sensors are used to
control the meniscus level in the mould.

Figure 33.3: Role of flux in continuous casting mold

As seen in the figure, flux melts and enters into the gap between mold surface and solidified strand. Molds are made of
copper alloys. Small amounts of alloying elements are added to increase the strength. Mold is tapered to reduce the air

gap formation. Taper is typically 1% of the mold length. For cross section of mold the taper is about
1mm for 1m long mold. The cross section of the mold is the cross section of the slab/bloom/billet. Length of the mold is

around and is more for large cross sections. Mold cross section decreases gradually from top to bottom.
Mould extracts around 10% of the total heat.

The mold is oscillated up and down to withdraw the partially solidified strand (strand is either billet or bloom or slab).The
oscillated frequency can be varied. At Tata steel slab caster frequency is varied in between 0 and 250cycles/min and the
stroke length from 0 to 12mm.
MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Steel level in mould is controlled, that is the meniscus for smooth caster operation. Sensors are used to control the
meniscus level.

The functions of mold flux are.

• Inclusion absorption capability.

• Prevention of oxidation.

• Minimization of heat losses.

• Flux on melting enters into the air gap and provides lubrication.

For the above functions the flux should have the following properties.

• Low viscosity
• Low liquidus temperature

• Melting rate of flux must match with the speed of the continuous casting.

Typically the range of composition for mold fluxes are.

CaO 25-45% Na2O 1-20% BaO 0-10%

SiO2 20-50% K2O 1-5% Li2O 0-4%
Al2O3 0-10% FeO 0-6% B2O3 0-10%
TiO2 0-5% MgO 0-10% F 4-10%
C 1-25% MnO 0-10%

Heat transfer in continuous casting

Heat transfer in continuous casting takes place in mold and in secondary cooling by a combination of conduction,
convection and radiation. Figure 33.4 shows heat transfer in the mold and secondary cooling.

Mist spray cooling i.e. mixture of air+ water provides more uniform cooling. Here high pressure air+ water mixture is
sprayed on the metal surfaces. Some advantages are:

• Uniform cooling
• Less water requirement

• Reduced surface cracking

MY: 301 Steel Making Processes

Heat transfer in the mold and secondary cooling zone

Figure 33.4: and the formation of solid shell. Mushy zone and liquid
core can also be seen