The traditional way to design mold openings of DC-cast rolling ingots is based on measured values of shrinkage combined with interpolation methods. Difficulties arise, when the basic measured values are far from the shape and casting speed desired, as extrapolation on this basis does not work. On the other hand, available thermo-mechanical simulation tools for the DC-casting process are based on purely physical models. After validation using a given ingot size and casting speed such a model should be capable to predict the correct shrinkage even far away from the validation point at quite different ingot shapes and casting speeds. Here, a 3-D thermo-mechanical model, based on the general purpose software Abaqus, which takes into account relevant material behavior, was tested for its ability to predict the ingot shrinkage for both, large and small ingot sizes and additionally different casting speeds after evaluation of the model for a medium size ingot. Resulting shapes are compared with measured data and the influence of ingot size, casting speed and cooling conditions on the accuracy are discussed.
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