Experimental Investigation of Solidification in the Cast Mold with a Consumable Cooler Introduced Inside

Abstract

The microstructure is of great significance for the stability and mechanical performance of the cast slab. Recently, an innovative technology of feeding a consumable cooler into the mold has been proposed to improve the internal quality of castings. But the mechanism is not clear. In the present work, a water-cooled transparent laboratory equipment was set up and solidification of NH4Cl-70%H2O solution was studied to observe the in-situ growth and sedimentation of crystals. The experiments were conducted with and without adding a consumable cooler. Morphology variation of the solidification structure was visualized and temperature distribution during the process was recorded. Results show that introduction of the consumable cooler significantly reduces the temperature of the central zone. Melting of the consumable cooler can supply a large quantity of equiaxed crystals, which prevent the growth of columnar dendrites and thereby promote columnar to equiaxed transition (CET). Moreover, the enhanced convection shows an effect of grain refinement.