DRY CASTING OF BORON- AND TITANIUM-ALLOYED STEEL GRADES A_BILLET CASTER Johann Schruff, Dipl.-Ing. - Reinhard Klemp, T.-Ing. Lech-Stahlwerke GmbH 8901 Meitingen-Herbertshofen (Germany) Jiirgen Sardemann, Dipl.-Ing. Stollberg GmbH 4200 Oberhausen (Germany) : INTRODUCTION LECHSTAHLWERKE, previously known as ‘Bayerische Elektrostahlwerke', began production of reinforcing steel in 1972. In 1976, production was extended to high-grade steel. Each of these 2 lines of production uses an electric arc furnace, a continuous casting machine and a rolling mill. The ladle treatment of all melts can be carried out in a metallurgical station and in a ladle furnace. The total annual production of LSW is about 200,000 tonnes of high-grade steel and 160,000 tonnes’ of reinforcing steel. High-quality construction steel alloyed with boron- titanium is an important product range of LSW. Demand is constantly increasing with, at present, approx. 1000 tonnes of this grade sent out monthly. With the introduction of boron-titanium steel, a problem of quality has played a more and more central role. Due to surface defects, a considerable portion of the rolled material had to be scrapped or repaired with great effort. On the other hand, the surface of steel alloyed with boron, but not titanium, was good. Unsuccessful negotiations with customers about experiments to replace titanium with other alloying elements meant that LSW was faced with the task of solving the problem of quality within the works itself. 752. PRODUCTION PROGRAMME High-grade steel produced at LSW is aluminium-killed, cast with sub-entry nozzles and stoppers or tundish slidegates using casting powder. /1/. 4 types of high-grade steel are produced: a) High-strength steel, e.g. ST 52 b) Carbon steel, e.g. C 45 SO c) Low-alloy high-grade steel, e.g. 30 Mn B4 + Ti a) Other types, e.g. C 135 W2 TABLE 1: Typical analysis of four steel types. (for 30 Mn B4 + Ti, the analysis of batch 110630 is listed, which we shall refer to as an example at other points in the article.) Steel sT 52 SO Cc 45 30 Mn B4 + Ti C135 W2 c 0.24 0.45 0.32 1.31 Si 0.35 0.25 0.28 0.22 Mn 1.35 0.76 1.40 0.23 P 0.022 0.022 0.009 0.012 s 0.026 0.031 0.028 0.017 cr 0.18 0.24 0.28 0.08 Mo 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.02 Ni 0.04 0.08 0.06 0.06 cu 0.07 0.10 0.07 0.08 sn 0.013 0.011 0.011 0.012 Al (total) 0.040 0.035 0.042 0.026 Al (oxidic) 0.002 0.002 0.003 0.000 B 0.002 Ti 0.036 All the high-grade steel is cast by continuous casting and rolled to rounds of between 16 and 100 mm diameter or squares of 40 - 140 mm. Most of the high- grade steel goes to forging shops and is processed into crank shafts (C 45), axles (ST 52 SO) and parts for gear boxes. Well-known customers are MERCEDES-BENZ, VOLKSWAGEN and other car manufacturers. A further speciality is file steel (C 135 W 2). 76As can be seen from TABLE 1, the LSW laboratory is equipped to evaluate not only the total aluminium content, but also the content of metallic aluminium as opposed to oxidic aluminium by means of spectrometry. /2/. With the introduction of this technique, essential improvements in quality and procedure could be made. 3. PROCEDURE The scrap is melted in the electric arc furnace (32 or 36 MVA). After refining, the melt is emptied into a jadle suspended from the crane. Depending on the state of the ladle, the weight lies between 63 and 70 tonnes. During tapping, the deoxidizing elements and alloys are added. The exact analysis is roughly achieved in the metallurgical station and accurately adjusted in the ladle furnace. The melt temperature is also accurately adjusted in the ladle furnace, since the ladle is sent from there to the casting machine. LSW uses two bow-type continuous casting machines with straight moulds and straight first-zone roller aprons. Each of them has 4 strands with cross-sections of 4. DESCRIPTION AND LOCALISATION OF SURFACE DEFECTS The cast material is inserted into the push-furnace without further treatment apart from a visual check. The material is checked only after rolling in the finishing shop. Surface defects discovered there, are removed by grinding. FIGURE 1 shows typical surface defects in a boron- titanium-alloyed melt, namely hole-like depressions which seem to be filled with foreign material. They appear solely at the corners, at regular intervals. with greater degrees of rolling, these holes are less pronounced. But then, cracks appear at an angle to the surface. Of course, the question arises repeatedly, whether we are dealing with surface defects caused by ‘the rolling mill or whether the cast material was supplied with faults that lead to the typical defects during rolling. 7On closer investigation of these surface defects, a conclusion could be reached. In FIGURE 2, we can see a defect at right angles to the rolling direction, magnified 100 times. The material has a ferritic pearlite structure. The surface decarburization can be easily recognized as a light- coloured area around the whole crack, i.e. right into the tip of the crack. Since the surface decarburization takes place in the push-furnace, we have proved that the defect arose, before the material was put into the push-furnace, i.e. during continuous casting. This, plus the periodic appearance of this defect, leads to the conjecture that these could be cracked oscillation marks. This type of defect has not yet been observed in the normal visual checks of the cast material. To be able to make a clear statement about the surface quality of the cast material, a 20 cm long end was sheared off a billet and pickled. The result can be seen in FIGURE 3. On the right-hand front corner, the cracked oscillation marks can be seen. They are especially prominent, where the billet is deformed by shearing. Smaller cracks have also formed between the marks, proving without a doubt that this defect was already present in the cc-material. A defect can only be removed, if the place of its origin can be located. It was known from the finishing shop that the defect only occurred on one or two corners. The corners always lay next to and never diagonally opposite each other. In addition, the defect arose at irregular intervals, i.e. some billets were good, a large proportion had to be cleaned with great effort, and a not inconsiderable part even had to be scrapped. Since it was not possible to recognize the defect in the continuous casting material without great effort, the defect had to be located after rolling. To do this, four billets from one heat of this critical quality were marked with the strand numbers for the purposes of experiment. Then, the material was rolled in the mill with a reduction of only 1 to 2. This small degree of shaping was sufficient for the defects and the marks of the strand numbers to be still recognized. In this way, two statements could be made: 181, The defect could not be attributed to one particular strand. The results were so varied that there was never one strand that was con- sistently good or bad. 2. The defect arises on the external radius-side. The corner cracks were always observed on the same side of the billet. This side corresponds to the external radius of the arc of the cc- machine. The cracking of an oscillation mark is caused by tensile stress on the surface. The only place on the external radius exposed to such strain is located in the first bending zone in the roller apron, approximately 120 cm below the meniscus. Thus, if oscillation marks open, then it is only possible in the first bending zone. 5. IN SEARCH OF THE CAUSE OF THE DEFECTS BY GING THE CASTING Pi Rs The experiments were carried out on heats during normal production. The casting parameters were altered in turn, according to TABLE 2, and an assessment was made of the quality of the surfaces before and after rolling. 79TABLE 2 I Casting speed 170 sa. m/min 0.8 0.9 1.0] 1.1 1.2 Casting speed 200 sq. m/min 0.7 0.8] 0.9 1.0 II Height of stroke mm 10S III Casting-powder types a|B oc Iv Mould taper in % 170 sq. 0.130 | 0.0 200 sq. 0.065 | 0.0 Vv‘ Tundish temperature above liquidus in °C > 20 | 12-20] 9-12 <9 VI Secondary cooling in 1/kg steel 0.2 |< 0.1] 0.02 The boxed column in TABLE 2 corresponds to the figures in STANDARD-practice. Stages I to V produced no results. Secondary cooling was the last remaining casting parameter which could be varied to perhaps lead to success. In the spray-water zone of only 32 cm in length, about 1000 1/h of water, corresponding to less than 0.1 1/kg of steel, are used. In view of this low amount of spray cooling, the question arose as to whether one could completely omit this cooling for boron-titanium-alloyed melts, at least for a test strand. Factors against this were a greater length of liquid core, the risk of breakout and bulging. In addition, spray cooling beneath the mould does not only serve to cool the strand, but also to cool the roller aprons. That means that | -when the spray cooling is switched off- the rollers glow red hot and have to be changed after each casting. To come closer to a solution of this problem, the spray cooling was reduced from 1000 to 300 1/h on the test strand. In this way, at least the rollers in the apron and their bearings are still cooled. The casting speed was set at 0.8 m/min for 170 sq. and at 0.7 m/min for 200 sq. 80To everyone's astonishment, the material cast almost without spray cooling, was absolutely free of visible cracks both as cast and as rolled material. After this tentative experiment, several melts were completely cast using this technique. Here, the original result was confirmed, i.e. this material was also absolutely free of cracks! To summarize, we can, therefore, say that the cracked oscillation marks on the cast material are caused by spray cooling which, even when reduced, is still too intensive. FIGURE _4 shows a diagram of the spray cooling of continuous casting machine II. The first zone of the roller apron has two sets of four rollers. The strand surface is sprayed in the middle with water above the upper set and between the rollers. When the strand touches one of the rollers, i.e. when the relevant roller is turning, then the cooling water is trapped between the roller and the strand in a so-called pocket. Then, it can only flow away to the side. Cooling is so intensive in this area that the surface can become brittle. Due to the mechanical conditions in the continuous casting machine (see FIGURE 5), the strand almost always touches the fixed side in the roller apron. At the point of bending below this, tensile stress causes the strand to crack at its weakest point, i.e. in the oscillation marks. This also explains the irregularity of the defect or rather the fact that it is independent of the strand. 6 TEC! AND METALLURGICAL PROCEDURE Since a method of technically producing flawless boron-titamium steel grades has been found, the task of finding an economically justified production method for these grades presented itself. The test method used was not satisfactory for various reasons: - Steel quality: If there is no secondary cooling, greater bulging can arise, since the strand solidifies more slowly. This can lead to segregation and to internal cracks. - Operational safety: If, under these conditions, the casting speed is too high, it can lead to breakouts or the shears can cut into the liquid core. aLEconomic factors: Lower casting speeds lower the output of the continuous casting machine. The more frequent changing of the roller aprons also reduces the availability of the machine. Repairing the first roller apron is a cost factor. For trouble-free operations, new roller aprons would have to be installed. Publications draw attention to the qualitative advantages of dry casting./3/4/. Solutions to technical problems that can arise are described. /5/6/. Little can be read about to what extent this method of dry casting has proved itself. The previous experiments had shown that dry casting is only possible, if certain metallurgical conditions are accurately maintained. Otherwise, one could ask why bow-type continuous casting machines have to be fitted with a secondary cooling zone, together with complicated control systems and steam exhaust. Technical modifications: In the course of the experiments, it was discovered that -although red heating of the rollers can be prevented with a water spray of only 300 1/h, i.e. approx. 0.02 1/kg of steel- the rollers no longer turn and the roller apron has to be changed after at most two castings. Thus, reconstructing the roller aprons was unavoidable. For reasons of space, new first- zone roller aprons with only two rollers were provided with cooling jackets (FIGURE 6). These rollers as well as cooling elements in the apron are cooled by closed water circuits (to prevent distortion because of thermic stress). By measuring the flow rates and the difference in temperature (AT), it was also possible to establish that the heat dissipation via this apron amounts to about 10 to 15% of that of the mould cooling. In this way, indirect heat removal was improved by the above percentage. Metallurgical measures Independent of any cooling of the strand, safe production can only be ensured, if bulging, breakout and cutting into the liquid core are avoided. Thus, during casting without direct cooling, the shell must show the same strength at every point from the meniscus as during casting with spray cooling. With this process, 82heat is dissipated underneath the mould by radiation and by the closed water circuits of the roller aprons, as described above. This greatly reduced heat dissipation (in comparison to direct cooling) causes the strand shell to form more slowly. To compensate for this effect, suitable measures have to be taken. These are a possible intensification of primary cooling as well as a decrease in the amount of heat brought into the mould. Intensification of primary cooling: If the length of the mould is fixed, an improvement in primary cooling is possible only to a small extent. Neither increasing the quantity of cooling water nor reducing the inlet-water temperature produces measurable results, i.e. the product of water quantity and temperature difference remains constant. Optimizing the mould taper and, thus, improving the heat transfer has a positive effect. Since, however, the shrinking of the strand in the mould depends on the steel grade, this would lead to frequent changes and the need to maintain a supply of various sets of moulds, in view of LSW's production programme. We must also bear in mind that a correct mould taper is only available at the beginning and that it becomes less favourable by constant wear during the mould life. Decreasing the amount of heat brought into the mould: There are two different ways of lowering the amount of heat brought into the mould. Taking as a starting point the formula d=m.c. 7, a) we get 9 as a function of steel quantity and steel temperature. Hence, a lowering of casting speed and of superheat leads to a decrease in the amount of heat brought into the mould. Apart from that, both possibilities can be combined. Q = heat introduced with molten steel in kg /min n mass of steel in kg/min © thermal capacity of the steel in kJ/kg T, = steel temperature in tundish in °K 83Geirnn 6.2.2.2 Lowering the casting speed: The longer the steel remains in the mould, the more heat is dissipated per element of volume and the stronger the strand shell is when it leaves the mould. Thus, the lack of spray cooling is compensated for ‘to a certain extent. If there is no equipment to compensate for losses in temperature during casting by heating the steel in the ladle or in the tundish, then one has to reckon with the steel freezing in the ladle or in the tundish, if the usual casting time is prolonged. Although this could be avoided by increasing the superheat, the positive effect of slow casting would be lost, according to the above-mentioned formula. Lowering the casting speed, which also assumes sufficient casting capacity to maintain the current production rate, is, thus, only possible to a limited extent. Casting with low superheat: According to the above-mentioned formula, there would be ideal casting conditions, if it were possible to introduce the steel into the mould at a temperature of only a few degrees above liquidus throughout the whole casting time and to cast completely without any residue in the ladle and tundish. This, however, is not possible without additional heating of the ladle and/or tundish, Furthermore, low tundish temperatures can only be reached, if ladle temperatures are also reduced, which is again an obstacle to a safe start of casting. Assuming a maximum tundish temperature of 15° C above liquidus and a loss of temperature of roughly 25° C between ladle and tundish, the temperature after stirring of the ladle (last temperature measurement before the start of casting) is set at 35 - 40° C above liquidus. This narrow temperature range can only be accurately achieved with the aid of the ladle furnace. Since slight temperature deviations can have fatal consequences, the target temperature after stirring of each heat is calculated, taking into account the standard gauging of the temperature measuring equipment made by each shift and the current liquidus temperature. The current liquidus temperature is recalculated and printed out for each sample. eaIt is well-known that start of casting is made more difficult by the fact that, in spite of pre-heating, the tundish lining shows the lowest heat capacity before the first steel is poured in. Assuming an even supply of steel, the greatest temperature difference between ladle and tundish is measured at the start of casting. The loss in temperature -which can lead to a temperature below liquidus- can be compensated for by raising the amount of heat introduced. Taking LSW's equipment as an example: The tundish (capacity 6 t) is filled at a rate of 6 t/min; the strands are started simultaneously at a tundish level of 2/3 full. In this way, the lowest temperature loss is achieved. Over a period of more than one minute, the tundish receives the six-fold amount of heat compared to the normal casting (1 t/min). When the amount of flow from the ladle is reduced, there is a remarkable drop in tundish temperature (FIGURE 7), but the critical starting procedure has already been completed by then. With given ladle height, this method correspondingly requires a respective large diameter of the ladle outlet. In addition to filling the tundish, the start of casting -i.e. filling the mould, starting the withdrawal unit and reaching the desired casting speed- should happen as quickly as possible, since only in this way the pouring system used (metring nozzle, stopper or slidegate) does receive the necessary amount of heat during the critical starting phase. For this, preprogrammed AUTOMATIC starting is recommended. /7/8/. When thermic saturation of the tundish lining is to a great extent reached (the time required depends on the. heat capacity of the tundish before starting), the starting process is complete. This can be seen from the fact that the tundish temperature rises towards a new maximum (FIGURE 7). Since the steel temperature in the ladle will only decrease once it has left the ladle furnace, the tundish temperature will also constantly drop. Assuming a small tempe- xature gradient, it is possible to completely empty the ladle and the tundish, even at low tundish temperatures (15° C above liquidus).The temperature gradient in the tundish can, in turn, be influenced not only by the thermic state of the ladle, but also by the speed of casting. State of the ladle: Heat loss of the molten steel in the ladle consists of heat dissipation to the ladle lining and via the shell and through the cover to the surroundings. In addition, we have temperature loss through melting of the alloying elements and the cooling effect of the stirring gas. Provided that thermic saturation of the ladle is reached at the end of stirring, the lowest temperature loss can be observed from this time on. Heat dissipation to the surroundings is, then, only dependent on the temperature of the shell and the cover, if the room temperature is fixed. This is lower, if the lining is thicker. Newly lined ladles and those which have not been in use must be excluded from these observations, as the thermic saturation of ladles is reached only after three heats. Ladles with worn linings reach saturation point rapidly, but the reduced insulating properties of the lining lead to increased shell temperatures with the respective effects on the temperature gradients in the ladle and tundish. Decisive for the safe and rapid reaching of the thermic saturation of the ladle lining -before stirring is complete- is the thermic state of the ladle at the beginning of tapping. The faster the ladle is returned to tapping after the end of casting, the higher its heat capacity is. Whenever possible, the ladle should not be placed beneath the ladle heating station, since its heat capacity cannot be increased in this temperature range. At LSW, with optimal ladle rotation (end of casting to end of tapping less than 25 minutes), thermic saturation is reached after the steel has been in the ladle for about 80 minutes. The ladle can be considered to be thermically saturated when the drop in temperature of the melt is less than 0.3 °C/min. There are only two ladles in use for the pro- duction of high-grade steel. It is important that the rotation of the ladles is not inter- rupted by unforeseen ladle repair. For this reason, the refractory material for the ladle is selected for its high durability./9/. 86TABLE 3: Ladle Refractories Ladle lining =: pitch-bonded dolomite 50-60 batches Gas stirring _: magnesite 35-16 batches plug (changeable) Plates for slidegate : zirconium oxide 10-12 batches Upper nozzles : Al203 - chrome 10-12 batches (with gas purging) Nozzle brick : Al203 - chrome 50-60 batches Ladle- : aluminous, metal 1 batch tundish pipe encased The necessary replacement of the ladle slidegate after 10 - 12 batches takes 10 minutes, and approximately 30 minutes are needed for putting in a new purging plug. This is carried out during the early shift. To achieve the above-mentioned high casting figures, a modern slideqate as well as high- ualit lideaa ceramic material are required./10/. The mechanical parts ana especially the sliding rails- have to be able to meet the high demands made of them (up to two days of use). Casting speed: Since it is not possible to heat the steel in the ladle during casting, the temperature of the steel flowing out of the ladle drops continu- ously (FIGURE 7). Given a constant casting speed, this leads to a continuous drop in the tundish temperature after approximately 35 minutes, which can be compensated for by a careful increase in casting speed (TABLE 4). 87TABLE 4 Tundish temperature in °c > Liq. 912 9-12 > 9 Casting speed in m/min with 170 sq. : 0.80 0.90 1.00 to max. eececssaeaceeeee casting speed in m/min with 200 sq. : 0.70 0.75 0.80 to max. 0.9 m/min 7 ‘SUMMARY At the beginning of production of boron-titanium-al- loyed steel grades by LSW, transverse corner cracks were observed on the rolled material. There were cracked os- cillation marks on the outside radius of the billets. Due to spray water trapped in the cooling area beneath the mould, the surface of the material is very intensively cooled. Since the strength of the solidified steel shell is already increased by the addition of boron and titani- um, a too rapid drop in temperature causes the surface of the strand to become brittle and to crack at the first bending point in the roller apron. The surface defects disappeared, when the spray cool- ing was stopped. To compensate for the lack of cooling, a roller apron which cools the strand through contact with internally water-cooled rollers, was used. Since mid 1987, dry casting of boron-titanium-alloyed melts has been state-of-the-art at LSW. Profitability and operational safety were achieved by modified casting operations, which include rotation of ladles, stirring and the use of a ladle furnace, technique of starting the strands, control of the casting speed and internally cooled ‘roller aprons cooled via closed water circuits. Using this new procedure, approximately 6000 tonnes were cast in the last few months, a casting rate which is approximately equal to that achieved by the former technique. The demands on the employees have increased, 88because they have the additional task of maintaining accurate ladle temperatures anc monitoring the tundish temperature. On the other hand, there have been no interruptions in the casting operation so far, and there has been no cause for complaint about the surface of the rolled material. 89var /2/ 13/ /al 1s/ /6/ fi /8/ REFERENCES B, Tinnes Operating Experience with the Tundish Slidegate Valve European Congress on Refractories in the Casting Area MARCH 10/11, 1982, VdEH Diisseldorf, Verlag Stahleisen, Pages 161-172 K.A, Slickers Determination of soluble and insoluble Compounds in Metals with Spectroslab Spectro Application Report 35, Kleve/W. Germany F.P. Pleschiutschnigg, L. Parschat, W. Rahmfeld, HLF. Schrewe Secondary Cooling Systems for Slab Caster: From Air Mist to dry Casting Iron and Steel Engineer, JANUARY, 1987 Dubbendorff, K. wiinnenberg Ueber die Warmeabfuhr durch Stiitzrollen beim Stranggiessen ohne Spritzwasser Mannesmann Forschungsinstitut, Untersuchungs— bericht 3/87 B. Kriiger, W. Rahmfeld, P. Voss-Spilker Trockengiessen von Brammen auf Bogenstranggiess- anlagen Duisburger Stranggiesstage, MARCH 19/20, 1987, Pages 361-380 H. Gruner, K. Wesemann, K. Winnenberg Das Stranggiessen von Brammen ohne Spritzwasser- kiihlung auf Anlagen mit niedriger Bauhdhe Stahl und Eisen, JANUARY 25, 1988, Pages 47-52 B. Tinnes Automatisches Giessen mit Verteilerschiebern an 6-Strang - Kniippel- und Vorblock- Stranggiessanlagen Duisburger Stranggiesstage, 1984 F. Taake Experience with Tundish Slidegates on a 6-Strand Billet Caster for Quality Steel Grades compared with Stopper Rod Operation METACON CONVENTION 1986 in Zurich / Switzerland 90/9/ /0/ J. Schruff, P. Jeschke, E. Lihrsen Improved Metallurgical Practice with new Refractory Systems in Continuous Casting 50th International Iron and Steel Congress, APRIL 1986, Washington D.C. 3. Schruffé Multiple Use of High-Quality Refractories in Ladle and Tundish Slidegates METACON CONVENTION 1986 in Zurich / Switzerland ROR RR RR aL2 Melt No.: 117798 Section cast: 170 mn’ Grade =: 30MnB4 + Ti Rolled size : 115 mm? Fig. 1 Corner defects on a boron-titanium alloyed steel grade. 92Melt-Nr.: 119094 Grade : TH 35 Section cast: 200 mm? Rolled size: 80 mm? Magnification : 100: 1 rolling direction ————t Fig. 2 Micrograph of an oscillation mark after rolling.Melt - Nr. Grade + 117798 Section cast + 170 mné 30MnB4sTi Fig. 3. Cracked oscillation marks in cast strand.Spray Nozzle IN NN, LN Spray Nozzle | | | S 7 /} Strand sprayed orea Water pocket Roller contact Radiation sprayed area Water pocket Roller contact, J Lsw Spray cooling in Roller apron Fig. 4Mold First L zone apron Tangent roll ( bending point) bending roll Roller apron — + Roller supporting the strand Withdrawal unit LSW Cooling zones and strand support in Continuous Casting Machine II Fig. 5 96Fig. 6 Wooden model of the foot roller apron.2OMNB4 Ti +470 mmt 1535 b + estimated ladle temp, measured Tundish temp. Temp. after stirring: 1842°C 1530 SS tungish empty Ladle empty 1525 fe 1520 F . isis F . Temperature in °C o — . 1505 } . Liquidus temperature: 1502 °C 1500 + ‘ ‘ Casting speed £0,8m-mid! Lo, 9mmifiy L L 1 "495 co) 20 40 60 80 100 Casting time in min. Lsw Casting of a boron - titanium alloyed melt Fig. 7 98Melt -Nr. Grade: Section Temp. after stirring + 110630 30MnB4 Ti 170 mat + estimated ladle temp. measured Tundish temp, 1542 Ladie empty ———_____ 1540 1530 1520 1510 1500 [= “80 ° Liquidus temperature 1502 °C Casting speed 20 Casting time + 0,8 mini" 40 60 80 100 Lsw Casting of a boron -titanium alloyed melt Fig. 8 99Discussion following DRY CASTING OF BORON AND TITANIUM ALLOYED STEEL GRADES ON A BILLET CASTER by J. Schruff and R. Klemp, Lech-Stahlwerke GmbH and J. Sardemann, Stollberg GmbH S.V. Subramanian: I just want to make a comment. It would appear that the ductility trough associated with the precipitation events could account for the observations that you have made. By reducing the intensity of cooling in the secondary cooling zone, the temperature of the billet is raised, and as a consequence the supersaturation or driving force for the precipitation is decreased. The work at McMaster University on the precipitate evolution during continuous casting suggests that the precipitation of carbo-nitrides of microalloying elements during unbending of the billet decreases the ductility of the steel, thereby promoting surface cracks. It is interesting to note that you have found the same. Johann Schruff: Thank you for confirming our findings. Jim Lepp: Congratulations on some excellent work. What I'm interested in i: do you have continuous roller containment or is it as it shows in this diagram, that there's just rollers below the mold and then the box that we saw in the slide? Johann Schruff: In the first roller zone there are only two rollers left (Fig. 5). One of the rollers is on the outside radius directly beneath the mould, and the second roller is placed about 500 mm lower on the interior radius (tangent roll). We dispensed with side guide rollers completly. For reasons of space, it was absolutely necessary to reduce the number of rollers from eight to two. Although the strand is now supported by only two rollers in this area, neither bulging nor breakouts occurred. The rollers are fitted with water cooled covers. The whole roller apron consists of water cooled panels. It was a conscious decision to show only the wooden model of the roller apron in the course of this lecture (Fig. 6); since the original appears to consist of only tubes and pipes, it would be almost impossible to identify anything on a photo. It must be emphasized that the strand surface is now cooled only indirectly by this roller apron. Between the mould and the withdrawal unit no water is applied directly to the strand surface. Bob Borowski: Did you return to your original mold taper after you went to dry casting? 100Johann Schruff: We still cast with our original moulds, which have almost no taper (Table 2). For dry casting we only change the roller apron. Jim Kamal: Did you notice any change in the rhomboidity measurement by changing these rollers? Johann Schruff: We did not notice anything in this direction, but the first thing we did when we started with the technique of dry casting was to look not only for surface cracks but also for internal cracks by taking sulphur prints. Actually, we did not find any internal cracks. Jim Kamal: Did the rhomboidity increase when cast speed increased? Johann Schruff: No, nothing. But you must consider that in comparison with other continuous casting plants we have always cast with low superheat and at a low casting speed. I know other c.c. plants which cast the same cross sections at a speed nearly twice as fast as ours. that seems to be the main reason that we do not have any problems with rhomboid shape. As we have ample continuous casting capacity, from the very beginning of producing quality steel there was a tendency to drop temperature and speed to a point which just enabled us to empty the ladle and the tundish completely. By working in this way we found out that many problems like bulging and breakouts, for example, had disappeared overnight. Ian Baksh: Just to verify, are you casting with mold powders or rapeseed oil? Johann Schruff: Powder, we cast with powder. Ian Bakshi: There was a reference in your paper to casting with rapeseed oil; did you switch to mould powders in order to cast the boron grades? Johann Schruff: When casting with sub-entry nozzles we use only powder. Ian Bakshi: Have any billet evaluations been done to check the uniformity of the shell coming out of the mould? Would you also comment on your mould stroke length and oscillation frequency used. Johann Schruff: Actually I do not understand your first question. our mould stroke length is 10 mm and the oscillation frequency is 60 strokes per minute when casting at a speed of 1.00 m/min. 101Daniel Bibor: Can you explain how you proceeded to change the casting speed of the ladle from six tons to one ton per minute? Johann Schruff: First, we have a ladle slide gate bore of 50 mm diameter, which is sufficient to fill the tundish at a rate of six tonnes per minute as long as the ladle is completely filled with steel. Secondly, we have walls in the tundish to prevent the steel splashing greatly during filling. After filling the tundish we change to one tonne per minute by throttling the slide gate. Daniel Bibor: And does that cause a lot of wear on the plates? Johann Schruff: Not at all. But as you have seen from fable III, we use zirconia plates. in 1982 we changed over from alumina to zirconia and had very good results. Bob Ryan: Have you had any experience with longitudinal type surface cracks? Johann Schruff: No. At the very beginning when we started casting with too high temperatures in 1976, we sometimes had these longitudinal cracks, and we also had breakouts, but the last few years we have not had any. This was almost the only surface problem we had to face during the last five or six years. Further explanation about the roll setup at Lech Stahlwerke, by Johann Schruf: Johann Schruff: During the lunch break a number of participants in this symposium asked me questions concerning the modified foot roller apron. I answered one question then and there. One of them asked me: "I wonder what my people in our steelworks will say when I come back and tell them that at the symposium there was a steelworker from Germany who said that it might be possible to run a billet caster without any water applied directly to the strand surface?" I replied: "They won't allow you to go to the McMaster Symposium again! Are there any more questions? Jim Lepp: Are the two rollers internally water cooled? Johann Schruff: Yes, they're both water-cooled. We have a mantel, and so the water goes in here and goes out there. And here it's the same, this way, and this way it goes out again. Jim Lepp: Are the front and back panels water-cooled? 102Johann Schruff: All panels, all what you see. Howie Pielet: Why? Johann Schruff: This is necessary to prevent distortion due to thermal stress. In addition to this, we have discovered that a lot of heat is removed by ‘the water cooled panels. It would be interesting to find out how this heat dissipation would change if the distance between the strand surface and the panels were reduced from the current approx. 30 mm to less than 5 mm. Doug Holtby: Is this all steel construction? Johann Schruff: All steel construction: Ed Bednarek: What is the length of that? Johann Schruff: 600 mm. Leon Luyckx: What do you feel is the maximum safe speed limit of casting with this system? Johann Schruff: With a cross section of 170 mm, the maximum casting speed for the steel grade 30 Mn B4’+ Ti (Table 1) is 1.1 m/min., as long as the tundish temperature is less than 10°C above liquidus (see Table 4). Low carbon steels containing only small amounts of manganese and silicon like the grade St 37 cannot be cast in this way. dim Kamal: What happens if you have a breakout? Johann Schruff: Virtually nothing at all happens because, apart from the two rollers, this roller apron has only smooth water cooled surfaces’ on which the liquid steel solidifies immediately. The steel cannot stick fast, as with a conventional roller apron. In this way, it only takes a few minutes to repair a breakout. Jim Kamal: Did you have a lot of water and what happens when steel splashes? Johann Schruff: No, nothing happens, nothing. water splashes to the panels? Not the water! The steel splashes to the panels and nothing happens. You see it's like a mold, in a mold you also won't have a breakout. Nothing happens, it was very simple, we just took it out. We stopped casting, removed the mold, and removed this, and we put off the breakout. Len Beitelman: I am tempted to ask a question about your casting practice, i.e., extremely low superheat, slow casting speed, etc. How do you maintain castability at 103the end of the heat, if the superheat at the beginning of heat was only 10 degrees above the liquidus? Johann Schruff: I shall go into this and any further questions in an appendix to my paper. Thank you for the lively discussion. 104