Copper Mould Tube

Product Description

The continuous casting of molten steel into billets, blooms and slab products, has been highly refined over the years into an extremely sophisticated system. The continuous casting process is expected to produce metallurgically sound products at the lower possible cost, and this is being achieved in many steelworks throughout the world.

Copper moulds have played an important role in the development of the continuous casting process. Their funcition is to receive the molten steel and to allow rapid heat transfer from the steel to the cooling water to enable quick solidification.

The mould must exhibit excellent thermal conductivity, be resistant for thermal erosion, and be resistant to distortion from thermal stress. So far only copper and a few copper alloys meet the above conditions, both economically and technically.

Solidification:
The rate of solidification in the continuous casting process dictates the speed of production. The molten steel, which is in contact with the inner faces of the copper mould, starts to sllidify as rapidly as the heat is extracted, forming a shell. The shell increases in thickness as more heat is extracted, and eventually total solidfication is achieved. the process is similar to the solidification of ingots in ingot moulds. In continuous casting, the whole process is speeded up, with the aim to produce and homogeneous shell growth.

Consequently, the mould is an important part of the continuous casting process, and the manufactured quality of the mould plays and important role in their length of life.

Inner Surface Coatings:
Over the years, Metallurgists and Engineers have been working together to develop better continuous casting moulds. The steel companies require a more economical mould which will give a longer service life. Surface coating of the inner walls of the mould has given the best results to date. Coatings available are Chromium and Nickel plating. Also, a combination of the two give good results on slab casting.