The Interrelation between Casting Size, Steel Grade, and Temperature Evolution Along the Mold Length and at the Strand Surface during Continuous Casting of Steel

Abstract

The present work focuses on the investigation of thermal profiles in copper molds and at the strand surface during continuous casting of different steel grades in an industrial plant. Thermocouples embedded in the mold walls were used to measure temperatures along the mold length. Noncontact pyrometers positioned at different locations along the machine monitored the strand surface temperatures. The experimental results permitted an interrelation between steel grade, mold section (240 × 240 mm, 180 × 180 mm, and 150 × 150 mm), and mold wall, and strand surface temperatures to be established as a function of casting operating conditions. It is shown that the mold outer face (external curved wall) has the highest temperature distribution from the meniscus to the bottom of the mold followed by the inner and side faces, respectively. The deepest meniscus is shown to occur for the 150-mold, and the 180-mold is shown to have the highest temperature profiles along the mold length in all faces examined. Low carbon steels present the highest strand surface temperatures along the machine when compared with those of medium and high carbon steels. When the steel composition is parameterized, it is shown that the 150-mold has the smaller strand surface temperature close to the mold exit when compared with the 180 and 240 molds, and it is shown that this behavior changes after the unbending point.

Keywords:

• Continuous casting
• Mold
• Steels
• Strand
• Temperatures

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development, Brazil) for the financial support and GRUPO GERDAU—Aços Especiais Piratini, Charqueadas, R.S., Brazil for the technical support.

Notes

*Stollberg GmbH.