IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MOLTEN METAL PROCESS CHAIN IN THE CAST HOUSE BASED ON MODELING - ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR AND CHALLENGES LEFT

摘要

Steadily growing demands in productivity and final product quality together with rising prices for energy and basic materials require optimum process conditions within the whole cast house. Although numerical modeling support to the related mandatory continuous improvement of the DC casting is known for quite some time, the simulation of critical process steps in the prior molten metal processing within the cast house is a more recent development. This contribution will give a brief summary of the actual status of activities with respect to molten metal processing including application examples within the area of relevant phenomena in the furnace, filtration and launder design. The achieved results and the related conclusions will be used to pinpoint the additional benefits of modeling of related processes. Eventually, still existing challenges for a complete modeling coverage of the molten metal process chain are pointed out and correspondingly necessary future developments are briefly discussed.