MARCH 28/03/20141
Riccardo Carli1, Marco Alloni1, Carlo Mapelli2, Silvia Barella2, Luca Levrangi3
LIQUID POWDER FOR CONTINUOUS OPEN CASTING OF STEEL.
INDUSTRIAL TRIALS.
Abstract
New product, composed by a solid-liquid dispersion of conveniently formulated continuous
casting powder in synthetic oil based on fatty acids glyceric esters, has been developed. Target of this
project was the design and realization of a product featuring both oil and continuous casting powder
characteristics, a liquid powder, to be used as lubricant in steel open casting process.
Various technological difficulties due to inherent physical properties of the dispersion were
met. Viscosity of the system and its rheological properties are at the origin of multiple issues, solution
of which needed to be tackled before use of this product could be standardized.
During extensive plant trials, several benefits have been pointed out in operations and semis
quality.
A sharp decrease of sparkling phenomenon was observed, improving operators safety and
resulting in a sharp reduction of mold cleaning operations. Mold parts life was also significantly
increased.
Semis quality drastically improved due to strong dumping of distortion of billets shape. A
remarkable decrease of under-skin cracks and sulphide precipitation was also observed. Evidences of
reduction in scale formation and a drop of B/O index were experienced.
The present paper concerns studies of liquid powder properties, understanding of parameter
affecting technological performance of such a product and shaping those properties to operational
conditions. Implemented solutions are described along with results of extensive plant trials.
Keywords
Liquid powder, mold flux, open casting
1
2
3
Prosimet S.pA., Filago, Italia
Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano, Italia
Ferriere Valsabbia, Odolo, Italia
1. Introduction
In continuous casting of steel, oils of different nature have been employed as mold lubricants
since dawn of this technology [1]. Beside other technological benefits, late use of mold flux resulted in
a sharp increase of semis surface quality, which attained level of current standard of industrial
applications. However mold flux has seen implementation only in close casting technology while
almost no advancement has been made on lubricants for open casting.
This paper will illustrate results of a study concerning a new class of products which allows to
extend use of casting powder to open casting. This new class of products is here named liquid powders
for continuous casting.
2. Origin of the project
Exploring new possibilities for mold flux tecnology application, powders to be used in open
casting have been formulated. Most important feature of these products is very fast melting with little
consumption of heat. It has been observed that use of such product leads to advantages in the final
quality of the billets such as a decrease in rombohedricity, a decrease of the scale formation and a
reduction of corner cracks occurence. However major holding point of using this type of powder is
problematic mold feeding of powder itself resulting in erratic increase of NMI.
Due to promising results of concept application of specially formulated powders in open
casting, it has been decided to overcome problem of feeding with a mix of this powder and a liquid
medium. Formulated product has been tested reporting outstanding performance [2]. Since original idea
attained further confirmation, more in depth studies have been implemented aiming to definition of
optimal formulation of the product in terms of product stability and technological performance.
3. Selection of liquid medium
Formulation of powder to be used in a liquid medium has been frozen consistently with
previous plant testing results [3]. Then the first step has been to select a suitable liquid medium to
formulate a material with most suitable technological properties.
Different kinds of liquid media, essentially natural, mineral or synthetic oil, have been tested for
the formulation of the product. Properties taken into account have beeen flash point, pour point,
density and viscosity, considering following major criteria:
-
Flash point should be as high as possible so that the liquid medium can function effectively as a
carrier.
Pour point should be as low as possible to avoid freezing of product in case of harsh
environmental conditions.
Both density and viscosity should be as high as possible, considering their influence on product
stability.
A further essential parameter taken into consideration in the choice of the liquid medium has
been environmental compatibility in terms of biodegradability and non-toxicity of the combustion
fumes produced during use of the material.
Table 1. Liquid medium features
Liquid media
Flash
(°C)
Point Pour
(°C)
point Density
(g/cm3)
Kinematic viscosity 40°C
(cSt)
Polialkilbenzol
182
ND
0,86 - 0,88
20 - 26
Polialphaolephine #1
225
-51
0,86
68
Polialphaolephine #2
260
-15
0,870
84,8
Glyceric ester of oleic acid 300
#1
-30
0,930
68
Glyceric ester of oleic acid 300
#2
-30
0,950
150
Glyceric ester of oleic acid 300
#3
-10
0,935
61,5 - 68,5
Glyceric ester of fat acids 320
#1
-24
0,920
34,92
Glyceric ester of fat acids 300
#2
-12
0,925
65
Several laboratory tests have been performed to study the characteristics of liquid media and
related liquid medium-powder mixtures. It has been observed that some of the selected liquid media
are more suited to the formulation of the mixture. In particular, the glyceric ester of oleic acid #1 has
been used for the formulation of the mixture to be used in subsequent industrial tests. In the following
terms as liquid medium and oil are used indifferently.
4. Properties of the mixture
The oil-powder mixture should be formulated to comply with two main properties closely
interwinded. Viscosity must be low enough to ensure pumpability and at the same time high enough to
ensure a low rate of Sedimentation.
Viscosity
In Table 1, reference is made to the kinematic viscosity of liquid medium, expressed in cStokes,
since this figure is generally reported in technical data sheets of oils used in open casting. The
relationship between dinamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity is given by the following equation:
µμ
η = (1) d
where η (Stokes) is cinemativc viscosity, µ (dPa*s) is dinamic viscosity and d (g/cm3) is density [3].
Several measurements of viscosity of mixture and liquid media were performed. Experimental
apparatus and extensive results have been previously reported [3].
These measurements pointed out that oil-powder mixture behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid
with a marked tendency to shear-thinning viscosity, i.e. dispersion viscosity decreases with increasing
shear-rate.
Moreover it has been observed that viscosity of oil-powder mixture depends on several factors
such as viscosity of the oil, addition of certain additives, and the amount of powder in the mixture, see
as an example data depicted in Fig 1.
Cinema'c Viscosity [Stokes] 8,00 Oil 2 (viscosity 150 Stokes) Oil 1 (viscosity 68 Stokes) 7,00 6,00 5,00 4,00 3,00 2,00 1,00 0,00 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1 Powder Mass Frac'on Fig 1 Trend of viscosity with increasing mass fraction of solid for mixtures prepared fwith oils with 68
and with 150 cStokes viscosity at 40°C.
Better reference to viscosity when measured for solid-liquid dispersions is trend of relative
viscosity [4,5] with solid mass fraction. Relative viscosity is defined as
𝜂! =
𝜂
(2)
𝜂!
where η (Stokes) is the kinematic viscosity of the mixture, ηr is the relative viscosity and η0 (Stokes) is
the kinematic viscosity of the fluid in which solid is dispersed. Mass fraction is defined as
x=
𝑚!
(3)
𝑚!"!
where x is the mass fraction, ms (kg) is the mass of solid in the dispersion and mtot (kg) is the total mass
of the dispersion. The data in figure 1 reported to relative viscosity lie on a single curve as depicted in
Fig 2.
8,00 Relative Viscosity
7,00 6,00 5,00 4,00 3,00 2,00 1,00 0,00 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1 Solid Mass Fraction
Fig. 2. Trend of relative viscosity with increasing mass fraction of solid.
Sedimentation
Dispersions undergo sedimentation due to various parameters. For very dilute suspensions
consisting of non-interacting particles the sedimentation speed ,v0 (m/s), is expressed by equation 4.
2 𝑅! 𝛥𝜌𝑔
𝑣! = (4)
9 𝜂
where R (m) is the radius of the particles, Δρ (kg/m3) is the difference in density between particles and
medium, g (m/s2) is the acceleration of gravity, and η (m2/s) is the kinematic viscosity of the dispersion
[4]. In case of concentrated suspensions the equation becomes more complex comprsing effects of
volume fraction of dispersed solid. Nevertheless, from a qualitative point of view, equation 4 indicates
that the viscosity of the mixture and the density difference between the components are two main
factors which must be taken into account in the formulation of an adequately stable dispersion.
If selection of proper liquid medium, as previously shown is affecting both viscosity and
density, standard technological approach to stabilize liquid-solid dispersions is use of additives. Data
reported in Fig 3 show variation of the demixing over time by addition of different additives. Among
the additives improving the stability of the dispersion those named B and C lead to a significant
decrease of sedimentation rate due to a marked effect of thickening.
Fig. 3 Trend of sedimentation in time using different additives
In conclusion, extensive lab research has been performed to select most suitable components of
oil-powder mixture for optimal technological properties.
5. Plant trials
The plant trials required rigorous study for pumping system set up screening, as shown
elsewhere [3].
Short and long period industrial tests have been performed in steel plants in Italy, France and
Spain. More than 100000 tons of steel, as both billets and beam blanks, have been casted with good
results.
It was firstly observed that molten slag layer formed on surface of liquid steel leads to evident
decrease in sparkling phenomena (see Fig. 4) resulting in a lower risk for operators and a longer
cleaning cicle for some exposed parts of the casting machine.
Fig. 4 Sparkling in three molds during a trial. In the left side mold the product has been used while in
the other two molds only casting oil has been used.
Comparing results obtained using oil, casting powder and our oil-powder mixture, it has been
observed that while inclusional level is lower with oil in comparison to powder, when using the
mixture the inclusional level is just comparable to oil (see Fig 5) [6].
% volume fraction of non
metallic inclusions
1,4 1,2 average 1 std. devia@on 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,2 0 OIL FLUX PROIL type of lubricant
Fig. 5 NMI level using different kinds of lubricant.
Particularly concerning NMI, it has been identified the existence of a kind of threshold in
specific consumption of the mixture above which NMI level is sharply increased. Therefore setting
case-to-case specific feeding rate has been one of the primary task during all tests.
Another observation is that using oil-powder mixture mold heat extraction is milder and
extended on longer section of the mold in comparison with use of oil [6]. Better control of heat
extraction results in a strong improvement of the billet shape with the effect of a significant reduction
of rombohedricity, in some trials up to 10 mm (see Fig. 6).
Fig. 6 Transversal sections of billets casted using the oil-powder mixture (left) and oil (right).
Other related effects are a reduction in scale formation, a reduction in corner cracks and a
reduction in sulphide precipitation.
This results have been further confirmed during a six month period trial in the italian steel plant
Ferriere Valsabbia in Odolo (BS).
Initial goal of extend use of casting powder to open casting has been achieved with designing a
completely new class of product which it is here defined as liquid powder for continuous casting. It is
then possible to conclude that liquid powder for application in continuos casting has come to reality.
6. Conclusions
Exploring new possibilities for mold flux tecnology application has been the input to create a
new class of products which combines the advantages oil and mold flux. Studies have been conducted
to find the best components for optimal technological characteristic of finished product. Once selected
the most suitable formulation, many industrial trials have been performed with following major results.
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Sparkling phenomena reduction.
Longer cleaning cicle of the mold and of the exposed parts of the casting machine.
Safety increase for operators.
Strong rombohedricity reduction.
Significant reduction in scale formation.
Goal to formulate a liquid powder for continuous casting has been achieved.
References
[1] R.Carli, A. Del Moro, C.Righi, Properties and Control of Fluxes for Ingot Casting and Continuous
Casting, Metall. Ital., May 2008, Pg. 13-18.
[2] EP Application number 12425029.1 on 13/02/2012.
[3] A. Del Moro, M. Alloni, R. Carli, Una Polvere Liquida per la Colata Continua dell’Acciaio.
Sviluppo e Test Industriali, 34° convegno nazionale AIM, Trento (2012).
[4] S. M. Peker and S. Helvaci, Solid-Liquid Two Phase Flow, Elsevier, Netherlands (2008).
[5] T. F. Tadros, Rheology of Dispersions, Wiley-VCH, Singapore (2010).
[6] C.Mapelli, D. Mombelli, A. Gruttaduria, F. Magni, R.Carli, The Role Of A Correct Heat Exchange
In The Mould For Improving The Subsurface Quality Of Cast Products, 7th ECCC, Dusseldorf (2011).