Thermal simulation of a continuous casting process subjected to water-sprays cooling

Abstract

As in many thermal processing technologies, there is a delicate balance between productivity and quality during ingot cooling process. Higher cooling velocities increase productivity but also create higher temperature gradients inside the ingot. Such a fast cooling does not leave sufficient time to establish the equilibrium within the solid, thus the final metal structure is strongly affected by the set up cooling mode throughout the liquid metal solidification. The first intention in this paper is to compare between three cooling modes in order to identify the required mode for a continuous casting process. Then, we study the influence of heat transfer coefficient on metal liquid-to-solid transition through the spray-cooled zone temperature and the metal latent heat of solidification. A gray iron continuous casting process subjected to water-sprays cooling was simulated using the commercial software for modeling and simulating multiphysics and engineering problems. The primary conclusions, from the obtained results, show the forcefulness of water spray cooling regarding standard cooling. Afterward, we highlight the great influence of heat transfer coefficient on the location of transition region as well as the relationship between heat transfer coefficient, wall outer temperature, latent heat dissipation, and the solidification time.