Improvement of surface quality of steel by an electromagnetic mold

H. Nakata - M. Kokita - M. Morisata - K. Ayata

Iron and Steel Reseach Laboratories, Kobe Steel Ttd., Japan

Abstract
In order to improve the surface quality of continuous casting steel, an investigation applying alternating magnetic fields on initial solidification shell was carried out. The capacity of the electric generator is 200 kW and the frequency is 20 kHz. The experiments were carried out using a billet continuous casting test machine. Steel with 0.12% of carbon was cast to verify the effects of alternating magnetic fields on the billet surface quality. Surface roughness caused by mold oscillation and meniscus fluctuation can be remarkably decreased by applying an optimum magnetic flux distribution. It is clear that there must be an optimum distance between the coil and meniscus. Figs. 11, refs. 8.