Numerical investigation on the fluid flow and heat transfer in electroslag remelting furnace with triple-electrode

Abstract

Electroslag remelting (ESR) furnace with triple-electrode is always used to produce large ingots and the process complexity makes the application not widely spread. Thus, a transient three-dimensional coupled model in industrial scale has been developed to investigate the coupled magneto-hydrodynamics two-phase flow and heat transfer in system. Different from the previous studies with multi-electrode, the current work reveals the triple-electrode ESR with the formation of metal droplets and the solidification of liquid metal. Compared with single-electrode system with the same fill ratio, the heat source in the slag pool with triple-electrode is much more dispersive, and the U-shape metal pool in the ESR furnace with triple-electrode is much shallower and flatter than the V-shaped one in the single-electrode system. A shorter distance from each electrode to the center of system brings a higher heat efficiency, as well as a deeper and narrower metal pool.

Keywords:

• Electroslag remelting
• Triple-electrode
• Solidification
• Magnetohydrodynamics two-phase flow
• Heat transfer

Acknowledgements

The authors' gratitude goes to National Natural Science Foundation of China (51210007) and the State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy (Wuhan University of Science and Technology) Foundation (G201606).