Analysis of mold flow structure at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor No 1 slab caster

Over the years, due to stringent customer requirements, steel producers have had to continuously improve castability and product quality in order to reduce reject rates (internal and/or external). Extensive research has been conducted to fundamentally understand the problems and to propose effective solutions. It has been proved that the castability and the product quality primarily depend on the flow structure in continuous casting machine, which has effects on many phenomena such as, heat transfer, transport of inclusions, meniscus freezing, shell thinning from the jet impinging upon the solidifying shell, transient waves and fluctuations of the meniscus, thermal stress, and crack formation. [1-6] Flow structure ultimately determines the castability of particular steel product, and the total quantity and final location of defects in the product. Therefore, understanding and controlling liquid steel flow in continuous casting machine have been of considerable interest in recent years