Novel Opposite Stirring Mode in Bloom Continuous Casting Mould by Combining Swirling Flow Nozzle with EMS

The metallurgical performances in a mold cavity were investigated using a conventional bilateral-port nozzle or a swirling flow nozzle (SFN) plus with in-mold electromagnetic stirring (M-EMS) for bloom continuous casting (CC) process. To this end, a coupled model of electromagnetism, flow, and heat transfer was developed. Meanwhile, corresponding plant trials were conducted to evaluate the influence of a melt feeding mode on the internal quality of an as-cast bloom in Shaoguan Steel, China. Under the case of the SFN plus with M-EMS, a novel opposite stirring mode in the bloom CC mold cavity can be observed. A swirling flow in the anti-clockwise direction generated by the SFN, and the other swirling flow in the clockwise direction induced by the M-EMS were formed in regions with distances ranging from 0 m to 0.11 m and 0.218 m to 1.4 m from the meniscus, respectively. As compared to the case of the bilateral-port nozzle plus with M-EMS, the opposite stirring mode in the mold cavity can promote the melt superheat dissipation, improve the casting soundness and the componential homogeneity, inhibit the mold level fluctuation, and also be beneficial to prevent slag erosion for the nozzle external wall at the meniscus. Here, the fluctuation range of carbon segregation along the casting direction is reduced from 0.16 to 0.06, and the magnitude of mold level fluctuation is reduced from 5.6 mm to 2.3 mm under the adoption of SFN plus with M-EMS, respectively.