2019 Pittsburgh AISTech

Investigating Centerline Bridging in Continuous Casting During Speed Drops With ConOffline (Room 411)

06 May 19
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Tracks: Metallurgy - Steelmaking & Casting

Speaker(s): Zhelin Chen, University of Illinois; William Drennan, University of Illinois; Brian Thomas, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of; Joseph Bentsman, University of Illinois

Centerline bridging occurs near final solidification at the metallurgical length of a caster, when the two solidification fronts touch, entrapping a pocket of liquid downstream. Shrinkage of this entrapped liquid leads to porosity and centerline segregation problems. This work shows that thin spots, where shell thickness is less than that upstream and downstream, can form in the solidifying shell during large casting speed drops. Once formed, such a thin spot propagates downstream, entrapping liquid and producing centerline segregation observed in the final product. Casting conditions leading to this detrimental phenomenon are investigated using a verified 2D model, ConOffline.