Regular Article

Analysis of the off-corner subsurface cracks of continuous casting blooms under the influence of soft reduction and controllable approaches by a chamfer technology

¹ National Engineering and Research Center for Continuous Casting Technology, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081, PR China
² State Key Laboratory of Advanced Steel Processing and Products, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081, PR China
³ Xingtai Iron and Steel Corp., Ltd., Hebei 054027, PR China

^* e-mail: zongnan512712_2005@163.com

Received: 5 August 2018
Accepted: 20 September 2018

Abstract

In the current study, the morphology of the off-corner subsurface cracks located on the cross section of continuous casting bloom under a soft reduction operation was observed. A 3D thermo-mechanical model was adopted to calculate the temperature history, bulging deformation and stress distributions in the reduction region, and then to analyze the formation of the off-corner subsurface cracks under the influence of soft reduction. The results showed that the off-corner subsurface cracks can be formed under the influence of the extensive stress fields which develop in the cracking temperature range, especially located on the loosed side of the bloom corner region. Adjusting the chamfer angle and chamfer length can decrease stress concentration and bulging deformation to minimize the risk of off-corner subsurface cracks during the soft reduction operation.