TITLE:
Effect of Cooling Intensity and Position on Solidification in Semi-Continuous Casting of Copper
AUTHORS:
Amar H. Hameed, Ahmed A. Mohammed, Obaid T. Fadhil
KEYWORDS:
Copper, Semi-Continuous, Casting, Primary Cooling, Secondary Cooling, Metal Casting
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics,
Vol.6 No.3,
September
13,
2016
ABSTRACT: Cooling heat flux effect in both primary and secondary cooling zone has been studied
in semi-continuous casting of copper billet. Sufficient cooling is essential to reduce
casting defects and to get high productivity, however low rate of solidification is
aimed in order to get coarser grain size and softer metal for less losses in extrusion. A
three-dimensional numerical model has been developed including solidification behavior
of copper through mushy zone. At steady state and constant casting speed,
solid shell thickness is monitored during the reduction of cooling rate at mould region
to avoid breaking out. Heat flux intensity at mould plays important role not only
in the formation of solid shell thickness. But, pool length and mushy zone thickness
can be significantly increased by decreasing primary cooling intensity. Increase
intensity of secondary cooling zone for two particular cases of primary cooling is
tested. First case is tested at mould inlet water temperature of 38°C, and second case
at water temperature of 63°C. Results showed that the combination of increasing
secondary cooling intensity and reduction of primary cooling intensity can increase
pool length and mushy zone thickness. Also, it is shown that, secondary cooling intensity
can be magnified by up to 1.5 times for cooling water temperature of 63°C to
get pool length close to that of water temperature of 38°C.