Improved temperature and grain size consistency of continuous cast slabs through cooling spray regulation

ABSTRACT The consistency of temperature and grain size is crucial to the quality of the continuous casting slab. In order to study the temperature and grain size of the continuous casting slab as influenced by the cooling spray state, a cellular automatic finite element (CAFE) coupled model was developed. The model was validated by low magnification inspection and infrared temperature measurement. The process of continuous casting was simulated by numerical model. Temperature and grain size distribution in the transverse direction of the continuous casting slab can be controlled by adjusting the nozzle arrangement. The effect of different nozzle positions on the temperature field distribution in the second cooling zone of continuous casting was simulated. The optimal nozzle position was selected with the temperature distribution uniformity as the important index. When the optimized nozzle arrangement is selected, the transverse temperature and grain size of the continuous casting slab are more uniform.