Quality improvement in steel continuous casting process by development of a monitoring and advisory system

Purpose and goal

Improve-Cast has developed technology for temperature monitoring in a continuous casting mould that increases the understanding of how temperatures can be linked to the formation of casting defects. Measured temperatures have many uses. The information has been used to create CFD-FEM models to study the impact of process parameters on the process and suggest optimisations. It has also been used for the development of an advisory warning system, based on machine learning, which can warn of process conditions that cause defects.

Expected results and effects

Temperature monitoring has proven to be a powerful tool for studying the effect of e.g. mould powder. New mould powders showed a clear improvement on measured temperatures in plant trials, in the assessment by the advisory system and on measured casting defects, which have been reduced significantly. The technology developed within Improve-Cast is expected to be of great value for future studies of the continuous casting process to understand the heat transfer in the mould and how it can be linked to various casting defects.

Planned approach and implementation

Improve-Cast was carried out in an effective collaboration where each participant had a clear task. Early in project, the monitoring system was installed which, through successful field trials, gave access to the necessary data and process information, which were crucial for the project´s implementation in the form of the development of models and advisory warning systems. Nevertheless, project was delayed a number of times due to difficulties in carrying out further work tests as a result of corona, as well as longer than expected time consumption for the development of these tools.