Differences of Horizontal, Arc, and Elliptical Continuous Casting Machine

by Luoyang Judian Professional Steel Casting and Rolling Equipment M

Continuous casting is a manufacturing process which melts metal into liquid, and then the liquid metal is poured into a set of condensing equipment. When the metal is partially condensed, a casting of a certain length and shape is drawn from another section of the condensing equipment. Continuous casting is a mainstream steel-forming method. The equipment used in this manufacturing process is called continuous casting equipment or continuous casting machine.

Then, how many types of continuous casting machine do you know? What are the respective characteristics?

Horizontal Continuous Casting Machine

The crystallizer, secondary cooling zone, tension leveler, cutting equipment, and other equipment of the horizontal continuous casting machine are installed in a horizontal position, and the tundish and the crystallizer are closely connected. A separation ring is installed at the connection between the nozzle of the tundish and the crystallizer. During casting, the crystallizer does not vibrate, but the casting machine drives the casting blank to perform periodic motions of pulling, stopping, reverse pushing, and stopping. A horizontal continuous caster is the lowest continuous caster.

However, due to the inability to stop the machine, it is necessary to replace the expensive separation ring and repair the crystallizer and graphite sleeve when the machine is stopped. The continuous power on cannot exceed 24 hours. The crystallizer cannot be lubricated, the casting device is too complicated, and the three key technologies are not up to standard, so it is not widely used now.

Arc Continuous Casting Machine

Since the crystallizer is arc-shaped, the steel slab drawn out is also arc-shaped. The mold and the secondary cooling section are arranged on a quarter of arc. Before straightened, the billet moves down along the arc and solidifies. Then, we use a five-roller straightening machine to straighten the billet at the position before the vertical center tangent point. When the slab is straightened, the inner arc extends outward, and the outer arc squeezes inward. Because the five-roller straightening machine is a single-point straightening, in order to prevent the slab from cracks, broken slab, and internal damage, and to control the deformation of the slab within the allowable deformation coefficient range, the radius of the arc needs to be increased, which is why the arc machine is built tall. At present, the arc machine is mainly used in the billet and round billet below 150mm at home and abroad. For example, the height of the large slab for drawing casting must be at least 15 meters. The investment in infrastructure facilities is too large, so it is not suitable for drawing and casting large slabs.

Elliptical Continuous Casting Machine

In order to further reduce the height of the continuous casting machine and reduce the investment scale, one arc radius of the arc continuous casting machine is changed into multiple arc radii, that is, the arc radius gradually increases from the crystallizer down to the allowable Straightening is carried out after the amount of deformation, so that the height of the casting machine can be reduced by using a small arc crystallizer and gradually increasing the radius of the arc. This model is also called an ultra-low head continuous casting machine. Compared with the arc-type machine, it has a large number of rollers, high manufacturing precision requirements, and relatively complicated arc adjustment and installation. At present, it is usually applied to drawing casting large slabs, and profiled blanks.

Summary

The emergence and rapid development of continuous casting technology make the production of continuous casting steel have the characteristics of a short production process, low energy consumption, low casting cost, and high productivity. Compared with traditional mold casting technology, continuous casting technology has obvious advantages. Due to the extremely high yield rate of continuous casting technology products, it is easy to realize industrial automation, and the reasons such as low labor intensity are rapidly gaining popularity.