New method for cooling slabs in the secondary cooling zone of continuous casters that allows computer control of the slab crystallization process

A new contact-type method is proposed for controlling the cooling of continuous-cast semifinished products in the secondary cooling zone of continuous casters. The method employs water-cooled rollers and a system that controls the flow of coolant water. The method makes it possible to directly measure the removal of heat from the product, and it is based on a series of numerical-analytical models and highly precise algorithms. It is shown that it is possible to computerize control of the quality of cast slabs on the basis of real-time monitoring of the shape of the liquid crater and regulation of the slab’s macrostructure in each section.