| Continuous casting is the main process route for the mass production of steel today, yielding in excess of 560 million tons annually, corresponding to 80% of total steel production worldwide. As with any process, as improvements are introduced and quality is enhanced, there is the ever greater push to reduce problems that were once minor. The restrictions on quality for certain products require that defects be kept to a minimum. Currently, the industry has developed a wealth of experience in how to deal with slabs with oscillation marks. However, these practices are circumventions of the symptoms of the problems, not solutions for the causes.; By understanding the formation mechanism, one can then develop practices based on a logical consideration oft he causes. The goals of this current work were to develop a mold simulator that could replicate the surface quality of industrial slabs. The techniques developed allowed for a more detailed examination of the heat transfer interactions during continuous casting, such that the variations of heat flux due to irregular solidification could be observed. It is shown that the mechanisms proposed in the literature are not individually sufficient for the formation of an oscillation mark, but several are necessary and must occur in concert for one to form.; A mechanism is proposed for the formation of oscillation marks based upon the experimental results. This hypothesis is formulated as a series of necessary conditions that must be satisfied for an oscillation mark to be formed. This hypothesis is described, and shown to be in agreement with the trends observed and reported in the literature. It can explain both the overflow- and depression-type mark seen in industrial slabs. Additionally, this hypothesis was successfully used as a method of predicting the locations of oscillation marks on cast shells based upon the mold heat transfer measurements. |
