Thermomechanical simulation of continuous and semi-continuous casting of metals

In this work, the continuous casting of steel in a mold, copper in a twin-belt caster and semi-continuous casting of aluminum in an electromagnetic mold are studied. Theoretical solutions are developed to find the shell growth in the mold, the solidification length. It is found that the solidification length is proportional to the mass flow rate and specific heat capacity and inversely proportional to the conductivity and width to thickness ratio of the slab. The temperature and stress profiles during the casting process are simulated by solving the energy and momentum equations. A 2-D traveling slice approach is used to simulate steel and copper casting. A 2-D time dependent growing domain approach is used to simulate aluminum casting. A robust MATLAB algorithm is developed to solve the coupled field equations using the Finite Element Method. This algorithm is applied to the state of the art continuous casting of steel at SWISS STEEL and the state of the art continuous casting of copper at CONTIROD. A qualitative analysis of the location of hot spots for crack initiation is made using the predicted stress and strain profiles. The influence of the casting speed and cooling conditions on such locations are investigated.