Influence of heat flux different between wide and narrow face in continuous casting mould on unevenness of hypo-peritectic steel solidification at off-corner

The effects of the difference of the heat flux between the wide face and narrow face of the mould, the mould taper, casting speed and cooling rate on unevenness of hypo-peritectic steel at the off-corner in the mould, which leads to longitudinal cracking, bleeding and breakout during continuous casting, were evaluated by a finite element model (FEM) simulation and a plant test with a commercial continuous caster. The simulation results show that an increase in the difference in the heat flux between the wide and narrow face increases the off-corner unevenness of solidification because the solidified shell on the low heat flux side is pulled toward the high heat flux side. The analysis results were in good agreement with the plant test results. These results revealed the importance of optimizing the heat flux ratio between the wide face and narrow face mould even under a high casting speed condition.