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An Online Contactless Investigation of the Meniscus Velocity in a Continuous Casting Mold Using Lorentz Force Velocimetry

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Abstract

Monitoring the meniscus velocities of molten steel in continuous casting molds is critical for revealing the velocity field in the whole mold and consequently for process control and final product quality, however, the realization of contactless online measurement in an actual metallurgy environment is a highly challenging task. In this paper, we develop a special Lorentz force velocimetry (LFV) device to measure the local meniscus velocities of molten steel flow, and this device can adapt to harsh environments with high temperature, opaque liquid metal and surrounding complex electromagnetic noise. A series of laboratory experiments and calibrations were conducted to provide support for a follow-up in-plant test. The LFV device exhibits capability and feasibility for measuring the meniscus velocity in continuous casting molds during plant tests. On this basis, the velocity field and turbulent flow in a wide slab continuous casting mold are analyzed. The measured meniscus velocity is on the order of ~ 10−1 m/s, which is consistent with the results obtained via the nail-board approach.

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Notes

  1. LSB-100 g is a registered trademark of Futek Company. This sensor can function in the environment of − 50 °C to 93 °C, and its data acquisition component is developed by Dewesoft Company, Slovenia.

  2. DL-1 is a registered trademark of Beijing Yong Guangming Medical Instrument Co., Ltd.; power: 2 kW, size of furnace plate: 155 mm × 155 mm × 1 mm.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the project funding (YZ201567) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51574091), and the Institute Collaborative Innovation Fund (111800XX62). Our thanks are also given to the Baosteel Central Research Institute for their experimental venues and technical guidance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P.R. China

    Jincan Zheng, Runcong Liu & Xiaodong Wang

  2. Steelmaking Plant, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200941, P.R. China

    Guodong Xu

  3. Ilmenau University of Technology, Ilmenau, 100565, Germany

    Ze Lyu & Yurii Kolesnikov

  4. Central Iron & Steel Research Institute, Beijing, 100081, P.R. China

    Xianzhao Na

Authors
  1. Jincan Zheng
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  2. Runcong Liu
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  3. Xiaodong Wang
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  4. Guodong Xu
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  5. Ze Lyu
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  6. Yurii Kolesnikov
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  7. Xianzhao Na
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Correspondence to Runcong Liu or Xiaodong Wang.

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Manuscript submitted May 20, 2019.

Appendix

Appendix

In the actual continuous casting process, a layer of protective slag with almost zero conductivity is covered above the molten steel and insulates it from the copper mold. Therefore, the distribution of induced eddy current in the liquid steel with flux insulation in the copper mold is similar to that in a copper plate moving in the air.

In our work, the length, width, and height of the copper plate were 500, 300, and 50 mm, and those of the magnet were, 50, 50, and 10 mm (in Table I). It should be noted that here the width of the copper plate matches the width of the in-plant mold. We calculate the induced electric density by numerical simulation, to analyze the distribution characteristics of induced current and Lorentz force at different locations between the magnet and copper plate, as shown in Figures A1 and A2.

Fig. A1
figure 12

Characteristics of Lorentz force change caused by magnets relative to copper plate at different positions

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Fig. A2
figure 13

Induced current density distribution under different off-center ratio. (a) 0 pct, (b) 16.7 pct, (c) 50 pct, (d) 100 pct

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In Figure A1, The Lorentz force is analyzed at different off-center ratios, which is the ratio of the deviation between the permanent magnet center and the copper plate center to the half width of the copper plate. Since the Lorentz force calculated by us is the integral force in the area influenced by the moving conductor, we can see that, the closer the permanent magnet is to the edge of the copper plate, the greater the deviation of the Lorentz force is (from 100 to 20.8 pct), that is to say, the greater the influence of the edge effect.

This phenomenon can be explained by the distribution of the induced current density, as shown in Figure A2: From (a) and (b), as the position of permanent magnet changes, the distribution of the eddy current in copper plate changes correspondingly, but the Lorentz force hardly changes (Figure A1) because the eddy current distribution is limited by the geometry of the moving conductor, while the main area contributing to the Lorentz force is directly below the permanent magnet. However, if the permanent magnet is too close to the edge of the copper plate, the Lorentz force will not directly reflect the speed of the moving conductor due to the intensification of the edge effect of electromagnetic induction (Figures A2(c) and (d)). However, the edge effect of electromagnetic induction can be significant if the permanent magnet is too close to the edge of the copper plate (Figures A2(c) and (d)), which should be addressed if the flow speed close to the edge is to be measured.

In our work, the calibration is performed by placing the device above the center of the copper plate, and the in-plant test is performed with the device in the corresponding position.

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Zheng, J., Liu, R., Wang, X. et al. An Online Contactless Investigation of the Meniscus Velocity in a Continuous Casting Mold Using Lorentz Force Velocimetry. Metall Mater Trans B 51, 558–569 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-019-01757-z

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