Magma's first seminar about continuous casting simulation took place at the MAGMA academy in Suzhou, China.
The main focus was on the DC casting processes and showing how MAGMA CC can be used to improve the process in terms of product quality and productivity.
Product Quality, Process Robustness and Cost-Effective Productivity
The continuous casting process is of crucial importance for the manufacture of semi-finished products. Liquid metal is introduced into a short, intensively cooled mold, which may include graphite inserts, from a tundish or launder. At the same rate, metal is withdrawn from the mold, where the presence of a stable solidified shell at the end of the mold needs to be assured. In the start-up phase, a starting ingot is positioned in the mold, and after reaching the desired filling level, the starting ingot is removed and the metal inflow adjusted accordingly. The primary cooling in the mold is of decisive importance for the formation of a stable solidified shell. Further cooling of the strand takes place in the so-called secondary cooling zone. For process design and optimization, MAGMA CC, is a fully integrated and practically relevant turn-key solution providing meaningful information for the simulation based optimization of vertical and horizontal continuous casting processes.
MAGMA CC supports continuous casters to reach the following objectives:
- Layout and optimization of launders and tundishes to improve flow conditions
- Layout and optimization of immersion nozzles for minimizing inclusions
- Design and optimization of the mold (e.g. conicity, cooling performance, materials)
- Optimization of the process (e.g. optimal casting speed, adapted secondary cooling)
- Determination of temperature distributions during start-up and quasi-stationary operation for various process conditions to ensure the required quality
- Optimization of quality-relevant flow phenomena both during start-up and quasi-stationary operation, caused by the inflowing metal and by natural convection
- Calculation of the stress distribution in the strand and mold as well as stress-relevant quality criteria
MAGMA CC can be used for the casting of copper and copper alloys, aluminum alloys and steel. The program can be used to improve product quality before start of production as well as for continuous improvement during production. With the help of virtual Design of Experiments and autonomous optimization, the process and product-specific limits of the relevant process variables are determined for a safe production of high quality products. MAGMA CC includes the calculation of flow, solidification and stresses, taking into account primary and secondary cooling. Thus, the interactions between the inflowing melt, the solidified shell of the strand and the mold can be judged.