Effect of Feeding Strip Temperature on Macrosegregation in a Large Continuous Casting Round Bloom

Abstract

Feeding a cold steel strip into continuous casting (CC) mold is an effective method to improve the quality of large round bloom. However, it is difficult to assess the correlation between the bloom quality and the initial temperature of the strip. Therefore, a three‐phase mixed columnar–equiaxed solidification model is developed to evaluate the effect of feeding strip temperature on macrosegregation and solidification structure in a large vertical CC round bloom. The results show that feeding the steel strip induces “crystal rain” in the liquid core of the bloom and increases the volume fraction of the equiaxed phase. After feeding a strip, the flow direction of molten steel is changed, and the flow velocity is increased in the liquid core of the bloom. Furthermore, with initial temperature of the strip decreases, the production efficiency is improved. Compared to the four conditions investigated, the carbon distribution in the bloom is the most uniform, the negative segregation at the centerline of the bloom is the weakest with the value of −35.50%, and the extreme value difference of the macrosegregation index at 20 m below the meniscus is the smallest with the value of 38.35% under the condition of Tinitial = 500 K.