Continuous Casting Machine
Presented By:
CONTINUOUS CASTING- HISTORY
• In 1846, Sir Henry Bessemer in UK, demonstrated the physical possibility of casting
thin sheets of iron (2.54 mm thick and 915 mm long)
• It took almost 125 years to establish this technology commercially feasible.
• Today, over 90% of the total crude steel produced is continuously cast as against 30%
in 1980s
• In India, CC started with the commissioning of a billet caster at Mukund Iron and Steel
Works in 1965
• SAIL adopted CC mainly in 1980s.
CONTINUOUS CASTING PROCESS AND SHAPES
Continuous Casting is the process whereby molten steel is solidified into a "semi-finished"
cast product for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills or for sale as semis. Cast product
may be of following shape:
PARAMETERS FOR DESIGN: ADVANTAGES:
• Product – Slab, Bloom , Billet,
•Considerable energy saving
Rounds, Strips, H-beam
•Increased yield
• Number of strands (based on heat
•Reduction of scrap generation
size)
•Improved labor productivity
• Radius of the caster
•Improved quality of cast product
• Section / Size of product •Reduced pollution
•Reduced capital costs
• Metallurgical length
•Reduced operating costs
• Steel qualities to be cast
CONTINUOUS CASTING M/c – TYPES BASED ON GEOMETRY
Vertical:
Mould and support rolls are arranged
vertically.
Vertical-and-bending type:
Solid shell of the cast strand is bent in the
horizontal direction at the position where
solidification is sufficiently complete.
Curve type (bow type)
Curved mold and support rolls are arranged
on an arc of the same radius, and the cast
strand is straightened horizontally at the end
of solidification.
Horizontal type
PROCESS:
The liquid steel comes from the steel plant in a Ladle.
From ladle it is tapped in a Tundish.
Liquid Steel is flowed through the nozzle to mould from
tundish. The flow rate through the nozzle into the Mould can
be controlled by a stopper in the Tundish. Slide gate control is
also used in place of stopper.
The Mould is a rectangular copper box without a top and a
bottom.
The outer shell is being ’grabbed’ by a driven roll just beneath
the Mould, pulling a strand of steel out of the Mould.
The core of the strand, as it exits, is still liquid; because of that,
the strand proceeds through a secondary cooling section
The strand is bent from the vertical plane to horizontal plane
using rolls
At the end of the cooling section the cross-section of the
strand is completely solidified, slabs are then created by
cutting the strand.
MAIN PARTS (HARDWARE)
• TURRET
• SHROUD, SLAG DETECTION DEVICE, SHROUD MANIPULATOR
• TUNDISH, FLOW CONTROL DEVICE LIKE STOPPER ROD / SLIDE GATE
• TUNDISH CAR
• SUBMERGED ENTRY NOZZLE (SEN), SEN CHANGING DEVICE
• MOULD, MOULD ASSEMBLY, MOULD FLUX ADDITION SYSTEM
• MOULD OSCILLATION SYSTEM, MOULD LEVEL CONTROLLER
• MOULD COOLING SYSTEM, BREAKOUT PREDICTION SYSTEM
• DUMMY BAR SYSTEM – SOLID OR CHAIN TYPE, TOP OR BOTTOM FED
• SECONDARY COOLING SYSTEM – SPRAY / MIST
• BENDER AND SEGMENTS, STRAND GUIDE & SUPPORT,
• UN-BENDING SYSTEM, STRAIGHTENER
• STRAND CUTTING – GAS CUTTING / SHEAR, DISCHARGE
• SOFT REDUCTION SYSTEM
• DEBURRING SYSTEM, ROLLER TABLE,
• MARKING M/C
TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS
• Improvement in ladle turret design
•Improvement in tundish design
• Slag detection system
• Improvement in tundish car design
• Improvement in hydraulic mould oscillator
• Improvement in mould proper
• Automatic mould level control system (AMLC)
• Mould monitoring system (MMS)
• Electromagnetic stirrer (EMS)
• Electromagnetic brake (EMBR)
• Dynamic Secondary cooling system
• Dynamic Solidification control system
• Dynamic Soft reduction & Strand taper control
• Cut length optimization system
SLAG DETECTION SYSTEM:
Ladle to tundish slag detection systems (vibratory sensors / optical
sensor / electromagnetic type) has provided an optimum control on
the slag carry-over from the steel teeming ladle. This has enhanced
the cast product quality & tundish yield.
An alternating current is fed into concentrically arranged coils of the
sensor, thereby inducing eddy currents in the melt as it flows out. If
there is any slag in the melt, the conductivity of the melt changes and
the electromagnetic field increases slightly. This change is measured
by a secondary coil system.
MOULD OSCILLATOR
Hydraulic type mould oscillators permit on-line adjustment oscillation
characteristic (wave form – sinusoidal, non-sinusoidal) so as to
optimize the casting process. With non-sinusoidal mode, it is reported
to have the advantages of allowing shorter negative strip time for the
same mould powder consumption (with accompanying shallow
oscillation mark depth) allowing longer positive strip time for the same
stroke and frequency conditions and increasing lubrication.
AUTOMATIC MOULD LEVEL CONTROL (AMLC)
Why to control level?
If the Mould level fluctuates, the quality of the steel is badly
affected due to entrapment of Mould flux / slag / inclusions and
oscillation marks.
Aim
The goal of AMLC is to keep the level of the liquid steel in the
Mould at a very constant level (ideally within 1 mm).
How to measure the level?
By radioactive source on one side of the Mould & a
scintillation counter on the other side.
Eddy current type and electro-magnetic type level sensor are
being used.
Mould monitoring system is also known as Break-out Prediction
MOULD MONITORING SYSTEM System. The above system comprises of thermo-couples installed
along the broad face of the Mould assembly. The thermo-couples
Why to use MMS?
are used to detect unusual Mould events, such as temperature
To reduce the number of sticker break outs
spikes for sticker-type events & sharp temperature decreases due
in conventional slab casting machines.
to Mould flux entrapment events.
ELECTROMAGNETIC STIRRER (EMS)
Why to use EMS?
To avoid corner cracks, longitudinal cracks,
breakouts, Mould flux / slag entrapments and
surface defects.
A stirrer acts like the stator of an AC motor, and the
liquid steel is the rotor of the motor. The stirrer
surrounds the cast product and makes the liquid M-EMS for mold stirring (for low and medium carbon Grades),
steel rotate around its axis in a plane perpendicular S-EMS for stirring in the strand guide area,
to the casting direction. F-EMS for stirring in the final solidification zone
Location of Load Cell
Technical Data- Turret
LEVEL-0: FIELD LEVEL
Level 0….
1) Mould Flow, temperature,
2) Secondary cooling water circuit tank level, pressure,
2 S U P E R V I S O R Y 3) Closed circuit machine cooling
L E V E L DP etc.
4) Torch cutting machine
5) Argon shrouding application
C O N T R O L
1 L E V E L 6) Length measurement system
7) Online Vibration monitoring for pumps
F I E L D L E V E L
0
LEVEL-1: CONTROL LEVEL
Level-1…….
2 S U P E R V I S O R Y
L E V E L • Break out prediction system (BOPS)
• Automatic Mould Level Controller (AMLC)
C O N T R O L • Mould cooling system
1 L E V E L
• Slab detection
• Machine cooling/ Roll cooling system
F I E L D
L E V E L • Secondary cooling system
0 • Torch cutting machine
• Slab marking system
LEVEL-2: MODEL
• supervisory computer
2 S U P E R V I S O R Y
L E V E L
C O N T R O L
1 L E V E L
F I E L D
L E V E L
0
THANKS
