STUDIES OF FLUID FLOW AND MENISCUS BEHAVIOR DURING HORIZONTALrnSINGLE BELT CASTING (HSBC) OF THIN METALLIC STRIPS

摘要

Horizontal Single Belt Casting of strips is a green strip castingrntechnology, potentially capable of replacing current DC and slabrncaster operations. As-cast strip bottom surface quality is a keyrnfactor for the near-net shape casting operations. The meniscusrnbehavior at the triple point of gas, substrate, and liquid metal,rnwhere the melt first touches the moving belt is important tornsurface quality, as is the way in which the melt behaves while inrnsubsequent contact with the chill substrate. In this paper, meniscusrnbehavior and fluid flow mechanisms were analyzed and predictedrnthrough mathematical modeling, using COMSOL software. It wasrnfound that the backwall gap, combined with melt vertical inletrnvelocity through the tundish nozzle slot, and the belt speed,rndominated meniscus behavior. The backwall gap must be pre-setrnto be less than the critical gap size in order to prevent melt “backrnflows” and leaking accidents. The mathematical modeling ofrnmeniscus behavior and fluid flow was further supported byrnphysical water modeling, and was validated through HSBCrnsimulator tests using aluminum alloys.