Experimental modelling of continuous casting of steel in slab moulds using low melting liquid metals

Electromagnetic actuators are widely used in industry for contactless control of the steel flow in the continuous casting process. However, a real control of the flow structure by those actuators is a challenging task due to the lack of flow monitoring devices. Even a satisfying non real-time characterisation of the melt flow from plant measurements is missing. Beside numerical simulations, only a very few spatially and temporally limited measurements in liquid steel are available to investigate the actual action of the magnetic fields on the fluid.

Therefore, model experiments with low melting point liquid metals are an important tool to investigate the flow structure and related transport processes in the mould of a continuous caster. Their advantage is the availability of a variety of measurement techniques for quantitative flow measurements. The application of the Ultrasonic-Doppler-Velocimetry (UDV) and the Contactless-Inductive-Flow-Tomography (CIFT) allows for a detailed characterization of the mould flow with a reasonable spatial and temporal resolution.

In recent experiments at HZDR, the systematic study on the influence of an electromagnetic brake on the mould flow in a slab caster was continued. The measurements were carried out using a 1:2 scaled model operated with SnBi and a 1:8 scaled model operated with GaInSn, respectively. The melt surface was partly measured by a laser scanner system. In particular, the immersion depth of the submergence entry nozzle (SEN) was varied during the experiments. It became obvious that changes in the mould flow had a strong influence on the free surface of the melt, where strong perturbations can significantly impair the surface quality of the final steel strands. Moreover, effects from the "artificial" clogging of one SEN-port or the injection of Argon gas at the stopper rod were investigated. (paper)