Macrosegregation Improvement by Swirling Flow Nozzle for Bloom Continuous Castings

Based on mathematical model coupling electromagnetism, fluid flow, heat transfer, and solute transport, the metallurgical performances of conventional straight nozzle, swirling flow nozzle (SFN), and M-EMS have been evaluated and compared. The soundness improvement of bloom castings has been investigated by casting tests of adopting the newly designed SFN. As compared to the normal nozzle, center porosity has been eliminated along with the popular center radial crack, and a better chemical homogeneity was obtained by employing the SFN accordingly, where the maximum segregation degree of C and S at the strand cross section is decreased from 1.28 to 1.02 and from 1.32 to 1.06, respectively. Combined with the results of numerical simulation, the positive effect obtained can be attributed to the remarkable superheat dissipation under the implementation of SFN, where, compared with the normal nozzle, the melt superheat degree at the mold exit is reduced by 15.5 K, 9.8 K, and 17.3 K (15.5 A degrees C, 9.8 A degrees C, and 17.3 A degrees C) under the other three casting measures of SFN, normal nozzle with M-EMS, and SFN with M-EMS, respectively. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2013