Archives of Foundry Engineering (Sep 2016)
Structural Zones in Large Static Ingot. Forecasts for Continuously Cast Brass Ingot
Abstract
Some metallographic studies performed on the basis of the massive forging steel static ingot, on its cross-section, allowed to reveal the following morphological zones: a/ columnar grains (treated as the austenite single crystals), b/ columnar into equiaxed grains transformation, c/ equiaxed grains at the ingot axis. These zones are reproduced theoretically by the numerical simulation. The simulation was based on the calculation of both temperature field in the solidifying large steel ingot and thermal gradient field obtained for the same boundary conditions. The detailed analysis of the velocity of the liquidus isotherm movement shows that the zone of columnar grains begins to disappear at the first point of inflection and the equiaxed grains are formed exclusively at the second point of inflection of the analyzed curve. In the case of the continuously cast brass ingots three different morphologies are revealed: a/ columnar structure, b/ columnar and equiaxed structure with the CET, and c/ columnar structure with the single crystal formation at the ingot axis. Some forecasts of the temperature field are proposed for these three revealed morphologies. An analysis / forecast of the behavior of the operating point in the mold is delivered for the continuously cast ingot. A characteristic delay between some points of breakage of the temperature profile recorded at the operating point and analogous phenomena in the solidifying alloy is postulated.
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