Mould metallurgy

Purpose and goal

One purpose was to create a setup which enables feeding of wire into a mold under production conditions. Another purpose was to develop a wire containing a suitable reagent which can dissolve fast enough to enable additions into a mold. However, the main purpose was to test if the concept of a wire addition into a mold can be made under production conditions. Two plant trials have been carried out in a successful manner which indicate that the concept of mold metallurgy has the potential to become a valuable metallurgical tool in the future.

Results and expected effects

A wire feeder including a supporting equipment has been developed and adapted for use in production. This enables an addition of alloys to a continuous casting mold in the future. A suitable wire containing a desired reagent has been developed, which can be used for alloy additions in the mold. The concept of using a wire addition into a mold has successfully been tested in conditions. The evaluation of the cast material based on metallographic investigations and theoretical studies has shown that inclusions can be formed, which have a positive influence on the cast structure.

Approach and implementation

WP1: One simple equipment has been constructed to enable trials. WP 2: Three types of wires with different types of shells (Al, Cu and steel) and filled with FeSiR were made and immersed in steel to find out the dissolution rate and inclusion types. WP3 Thermodynamic investigations were done to determine the amount of elements to be added. Two plant trials were done to study the yield of the alloy. WP4. The distribution of elements in the mould were studied in experiments and the flow pattern in the mould and its effect on the distribution of the added elements were studied using modeling.