DEVICE FOR CASTING HOLLOW BILLETS

This paper presents the results of casting process modeling with the assessment of the obtained macrostructure and geometry of the hollow and solid billets. The objective of the work is to develop recommendations for improving the existing technology of continuous casting of tubular billets and the design for its implementation, used at the pipe rolling plant of KSP Steel LLC. The main solution is to implement double-sided cooling of the hollow billet in the secondary cooling zone on the continuous casting machine. The optimal ratio of coolant consumption on the inner and outer surfaces of the billet is substantiated. The result of the proposed solutions is an improvement in the quality of the macrostructure and geometry of the billet. When analyzing the macrostructure of the billet, a decrease in defects by more than two times was revealed. The study of the cross section of the billet showed a decrease in the deviation of the minimum wall thickness from the maximum from 6.1 to 1.8 mm. The uniformity of mechanical properties according to hardness readings was increased from ±10.5 to ±3 HB. Keywords: hollow billet, continuous casting, macrostructure, crystallizer, mandrel.