A Review of Defects in Beam Blank

Casting and the Measures Proposed for

their Elimination
Jorge Madias (1), Cristian Genzano (1), Marco Oropeza (2), Carlos Moss (2)

(1) metallon, San Nicolas, Argentina

(2) Gerdau Corsa, Ciudad Sahagun, Mexico
Content
Introduction
Surface defects
Internal defects
Conclusions
Introduction
metallon
Consulting & training company based in San Nicolas,
Argentina
Technical assistance
Short courses
Met lab services
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Gerdau Corsa Sahagun
Start-up 2015
Consteel EAF, LF, billet/bloom/beam blank caster, universal
mill
1.000.000 tpy crude steel capacity
700.000 tpy rolled products capacity
Introduction
Beam blank casting
Mature process, born in 1968
60 casters installed worldwide
Focus of the paper
Defects formation mechanism
Solutions proposed to decrease their occurrence
Changes in casting system (i.e. SEN design)
Mold design
Secondary cooling modifications and regulation
Strand support
Techniques used to investigate the defects
Metallographic characterizations
CFD, thermodynamical and thermomechanical modelling
Plant tests
Introduction
Three casting modes

Open casting (metering nozzles)

Semi submerged casting

(metering nozzles and funnels)

Semi submerged casting

(two or one SEN)
Introduction
Three casting modes: advantages and drawbacks
Casting type Advantages Drawbacks
Open casting Low cost: No need for SEN and Splashing: cold drops
casting powder Reoxidation: macroinclusions, trapped
High productivity: possibility of scum
automatic metering nozzle change Oil lubrication: Pin holes; risk of cracks
due to higher heat transfer
Al-killed steel not feasible
Semi submerged Less splashing Higher cost (funnel and casting powder)
casting Less reoxidation
Less pin-holes
More control of heat transfer
Submerged No splashing: no cold drops Higher cost (Stopper rod/ slide gate,
casting No reoxidation: no macroinclusions SEN and casting powder)
Casting of Al-killed steels Lower productivity (limited by SEN life)
Higher control of heat transfer (less
risk of cracking)
Introduction
Mold
Tubular: small and medium sections
Plates: larger sections

Possibility of using plate mold in a mold

jacket for tubular mold
Introduction
Plate molds
Wide faces: Holes and spacers
Narrow faces: Slots
Introduction
Plate molds
More alternatives to manage water cooling
Slots, holes with spacer, full hole, distance between
holes, distance to hot face
More rigidity of the assembly
Stability of transverse geometry of cooling
channels
Easy achievement of different taper modes
Higher cost
Surface defects
Pin holes
Usual for casting with metering nozzle with oil
lubrication
May be deleterious for the final product if
Concentrated in a particular zone (nest)
Deep enough as to not disappear in the reheating
furnace
Visible if in the first rolling steps the materials has free
spreading (it is not contained) somewhere
Almost scale-free in the beam blank, but then in the
reheating furnace the become filled with scale
Surface defects
Pin holes
Moisture in oil
Moisture pick-up in oil circuit)
Too high oil rate
Inhomogeneous transverse distribution
Too thick oil slot gap (more than 0.5 mm)
Partial obstruction of oil slot gap by splashing
Sudden variations in steel mold level
Use of pulsing bomb
Lack of deoxidation
Electromagnetic stirring helps in pinhole elimination
Surface defects
Bleeding
As in billets, this defect occurs when small strand
breakout takes place, healing immediately, without
metal loss
Annular stress may promote bleeding
670 mm wide beam blank
Bleeding in the inner surface of the wing
Surface defects
Bleeding
Classic formation mechanism
Surface defects
Trapped scum
Typical of open casting
Due to thorough
reoxidation of the liquid
steel in contact with air
and oxidizing slag
Usually a liquid
manganese silicate, but if
a solid precipitates,
viscosity increases and
entrapment may occur
If silicon content is too
high (due to a low Mn/Si
ratio), silica precipitation
occurs,
If aluminum wire injection
in the mold is practiced,
alumina precipitation may
occur if it is excessive or
it is not in the right point
Surface defects
Casting powder entrapment
Similar to scum entrapment
Higher viscosity may occur in this case through
Alumina pick-up
Reduction reactions between elements in the steel
and oxides in the casting powder
Example, dissolved titanium reacting with silica in the slag
Enhanced through turbulence
Excessive electromagnetic stirring
Short SEN / funnel submersion
Surface defects
Network cracks
Related with high copper content in the steel
High copper scrap charge
Where gap between strand and mold becomes
large, grain size increases and if copper content is
high, network cracking may occur

Rolled H Beam, Dragon Steel Corporation

Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Fairly common for beam blanks
Formed in the mold
Similar to longitudinal cracks in slabs and blooms
In rolled product, its metallographic features are
Internal oxidation (as polished, no etching)
Decarburization (etching with Nital 2%)
Oxygen penetration (hot etching with alkaline sodic chromate)
Influencing factors
Chemistry of the liquid steel
Properties of the casting powder
Deviations of caster radius caused by mold oscillation
Primary cooling: Water flow rate and temperature
Secondary cooling: Water flow rate

1050 mm wide beam blank

Longitudinal crack between web and fillet
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial
cracks
Steel chemistry
Sulphur content
Carbon content
Peritectic
transformation needs
to be avoided
POSCO scarfed
beam blanks
corresponding to
2,000 heats
0.12 0.13%
carbon the more
sensible range
Stahlwerke Thringen
C 0.08% max
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Casting powder
Stahlwerke Thringen
Low viscosity mold flux
for small beam blanks at
low speed<1 m/min)
Soft cooling at
meniscus level was
obtained
Lower capacity for
infiltration and lubrication
compensated by low
viscosity
JFE Steel Mitsushima
Different set of casting
conditions
Low viscosity gave place
to longitudinal cracks
(among other reasons)
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Casting powder
In cold zones of the meniscus (i.e., close to the
SEN), casting powder may reach the limit of its
performance and give place to surface cracks
Entrapment of non-molten
mold flux; distorted oscillation
marks, small depression

Longitudinal facial crack in the

web, due to thermal shock by
direct contact with the mold

1050 mm wide beam blank

Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Casting speed
Posco experience
As the casting speed increases
Solidifying shell is thinner
Heat flow increases
Strain is larger
Result: More cracks
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Secondary cooling
More secondary cooling intensity, more cracking risk
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Secondary cooling
Extensive use of mathematical modeling
Jin Yi Iron & Steel: optimization of secondary cooling
to avoid these cracks
ANSYS for the thermo mechanical model
MATLAB for parameter optimization
Maanshan Steel: thorough modeling of secondary
cooling with the same purpose, taking into account
all the mechanisms involved in heat transfer
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Summary of plant experiences
Company/Plant Year Corrective actions
JFE Steel Mizushima 1975 Decrease sulphur; increase mold flux viscosity; improve mold alignment

JFE Steel Mizushima 1981 Decrease sulphur; adequate mold flux; minimize mold misalignment; adequate
primary cooling; soft secondary cooling in first segments; better distribution of
sprays in transverse section

Stahlwerke Thringen 1998 High basicity low viscosity casting powder

JFE Steel Fukuyama 1996 Decrease sulphur; decrease secondary cooling flow rate

Stahlwerke Thringen 1997 C<0.08% (Mn 0.60 to ensure mechanical properties)

Posco 2002 Avoid 0.12-0.13% C; lower casting speed

Stahlwerke Thringen 2002 Avoid 0.12% C

Jinyi Iron & Steel 2013 Lower water flow rate in all secondary cooling segments

Maanshan Steel 2014 More secondary water to fillet; less to wing ends and web center. -10% segment
1; -7% segment 2
Surface defects
Longitudinal facial cracks
Corrective actions
Metallurgy
Low sulphur
Avoid peritectic transformation
Mold flux
High basicity
Even heat transfer
Mold design
To avoid longitudinal cracks in the shoulder
Secondary cooling
Less water, mostly for the first segments
Better transverse distribution
Internal defects
Blowholes
Depending on the root
cause, they may be
concentrated in the first
heat of the sequence or
in some given heat, or
all along the sequence
Start: close to the beam
blank surface, when
there is enough gas
segregation to the
interdendritic spaces
End: when somewhere
below the meniscus, the
ferrostatic pressure is
higher than the gas
pressure
Internal defects
Blowholes
Excess of gases dissolved in the steel (oxygen,
nitrogen, hydrogen), enough to produce a bubble
Compromise between clogging and blowholes
Internal defects
Blowholes
Typical industrial cases
High oxygen
Lack of deoxidation (coordination, slag carry over)
High oxygen and nitrogen
First heat of the sequence
High hydrogen
Moisture in new lining of ladle or tundish
High nitrogen
Ladle with long treatment, when nitrogen is used for stirring
Internal defects
Blowholes
Dragon Steel Corp. case
Casting with metering nozzle
80 kg Al addition during tapping
40 kg CaFe to get O<10 ppm
Oxygen injection in tundish if temperature too low
Thorough study of LMF and caster variables
High moisture in tundish repair refractory material
Internal defects
Web central cracks
Equivalent to centerline
segregation in slabs
Not enough support length
Insufficient secondary
cooling
Bulging, and in severe
cases, an internal opening
in the web
Rolled H beam
Central segregation
Crack formation
Some countermeasures
Use of roll checker
Equipment for segment
alignment
Internal defects
Inner crack in wing end
May promote strand breakout
Resemble off-corner cracks in billets and slabs
Internal defects
Inner crack in wing end
JFE Steel Kurashiki case
Strand breakout in some heats
Improvement plan
Study Objective
Observation of breakout boxes Research solidification in mold; find cause
Solidification macrostructure Mechanism of formation of inner cracks in wing end
Sulphur addition test Measurement of shell thickness in normal operation
Mold temperature Estimation of heat flow in several parts of the mold

Solution: optimization of mold taper in wing ends

Internal defects
Web central cracks
JFE Steel Mitzushima
Caster 12.5 m radius,
funnel casting
400 x 460 x 120 mm
287 x 560 x 120 mm
Influence of sulphur
content and casting
speed
Solutions
Intensive spray cooling
on the web portion
Strict maintenance of
roll gap
Conclusions
Beam blank casting is an established process with a
50 years history
It is not free of surface and inner defects
Some of them share features with billet defects; other
has more to do with slab defects
The complex shape induce specific solidification
defects
The occurrence of defects requires carrying out
improvement plans to make them minimal
Defect characterization is important
Simulations may help to elucidate the formation
mechanism and to suggest corrective measures
Jorge Madias (1), Cristian Genzano (1), Marco Oropeza (2), Carlos Moss (2)

(1) metallon, San Nicolas, Argentina

(2) Gerdau Corsa, Ciudad Sahagun, Mexico