2003 Volume 43 Issue 6 Pages 813-819
The electromagnetic continuous casting technology has been investigated in commercial scale casting experiments at a billet caster of POSCO works. A set of facility composed of coil & mold with a specially devised molten metal level meter, and software for casting monitoring were well suited to No. 2 billet caster of POSCO. The devised EMC facility and software proved well working and good enough for commercial production in the viewpoint of cooling capability of the mold, control of molten steel level. The major observations with the electromagnetic continuous casting operations include that the oscillation mark was improved a lot to its nominal depth of less than 0.1 [mm], and that the solidified shell thickness at the mold bottom was increased 10%. It was also seen that the mold powder consumption increased up to 30%, and that a continuous casting without mold oscillation was possible with excellent surface quality of the billet. The billet surfaces to the various amounts of mold flux consumption suggested that the choice of the mold flux be one of the important elements to enjoy the electromagnetic effects. Finally, it is worthwhile to emphasize that the electromagnetic continuous casting can help to prevent breakouts and to relieve the mold oscillation, besides the well-known effects of surface improvement.
