FLOW BEHAVIOR AND FILTRATION OF STEEL MELT IN CONTINUOUS-CASTING TUNDISH

A new way to clean steel melt, namely, filtration in the continuous casting (CC) tundish is presented. First, the fluid flow and associated mixing of melt in the tundish were studied using a small scale water model. From the residence time distribution of tracer, a modified mixed model was used to analyse the flow characteristics in a tundish with the addition of filters. The results of model experiments show that the flow behaviour of melt in the tundish is affected to varying degrees both by the relative position between the filters and the dam and by the height of the dam. The effect of the flow patterns on the flotation of non-metallic inclusions was investigated. With the aid of model experiments, the filtration process in the CC tundish has been completed successfully using corundum, corundum-quartz, and lime filters. A significant reduction of non-metallic inclusions in the filtered steel melt was observed.