Patent Application
20170028462
The invention is related to the field of continuous casting, and in particular to a tube structure that can be used in a continuous casting process.
Continuous casting is a process that transforms molten metal into solid on a continuous basis and includes a variety of important commercial processes. These processes are the most efficient way to solidify large volumes of metal into simple shapes for subsequent processing. Most basic metals are mass-produced using a continuous casting process, including over 1 Billion tons of steel, 20 million tons of aluminum, and 1 million tons of copper, nickel, and other metals in the world each year.
Continuous casting is distinguished from other solidification processes by its steady state nature, relative to an outside observer in a laboratory frame of reference. The molten metal solidifies against the mold walls while it is simultaneously withdrawn from the bottom of the mold at a rate which maintains the solid/liquid interface at a constant position with time. The process works best when all of its aspects operate in this steady-state manner.
Moreover, continuous casting generally has a higher capital cost, but lower operating cost. It is the most cost- and energy-efficient method to mass-produce semi-finished metal products with consistent quality in a variety of sizes and shapes. Cross-sections can be rectangular, for subsequent rolling into plate or sheet, square, rectangular or circular for long products, and even “dog-bone” shapes, for rolling into I or H beams.
Many times vertical machines are used to cast steel for big blooms and aluminum and a few other metals for special applications. Curved machines are used for the majority of steel casting and require bending and/or unbending of the solidifying strand. Horizontal casting features a shorter building and is used occasionally for both nonferrous alloys and steel. Finally, thin strip casting is used for steel production and other metals in low-production markets in order to minimize the amount of rolling required.
Many casting processes for long products (billets/blooms) use conventional copper tubes. These copper tubes could undergo: permanent deformation (plastic distortion), wearing on the bottom part and cracking on the meniscus area. The invention provides a solution to address these problems.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a mold for use in a continuous caster. The mold includes a tubular quadrilateral structure having four walls joined at four corners. Each of the walls have inner and outer faces configured to provide the walls with reduced thicknesses centrally located between the corners.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a mold for use in a continuous caster. The mold includes a tubular structure having a plurality of wall structures. Each of the outer faces of the wall structures is configured to have reduced thicknesses centrally located between corners of the wall structures so as to provide rigidity to the tubular structure for handling thermal loads during a continuous casting process.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of producing a mold for use in a caster. The method includes providing a tubular structure that includes a plurality of wall structures. Also, the method includes arranging each of the outer faces of the wall structures to have reduced thicknesses centrally located between corners of the wall structures so as to provide rigidity to the tubular structure for handling thermal loads during a continuous casting process.
The invention provides a novel design for a tubular casting mold used in a continuous casting process. The tubular casting mold includes externally on each side a concave configuration that is shaped by arch or by other geometrical shapes. Each side of the tubular structure acts as very rigid bridge or tunnel configuration withstanding high thermal loads without permanent deformations.
The tubular casting mold can be comprised of copper or other similar materials. The thinner outer faces 10 are possible due to the rigid concave configuration. The thinner outer faces 10 are thinner relative to the corners 6. This way temperature of an outer face 10 is decreased considerably, reducing as a consequence the permanent deformation, the wearing, and cracking sensitivity of the tube, as an example.
In other embodiments of the invention the concave configuration can be formed using other geometrical shapes.
Note the invention can be designed using the extrusion of copper or hydroforming manufacturing process as well as other techniques utilized in the art to form casting molds.
The inventive tubular casting mold design described herein intends to provide an appearance similar to a conventional tubular casting mold but the enhanced rigidity and low temperatures are the key fundamental features distinguishing the inventive tubular casting mold. The manufacturing costs of the inventive design are low as compared to a conventional tube because there is no need for any additional operation of machining during the manufacturing process. According to one technique, the manufacturing of the inventive design may be accomplished by extrusion of copper or hydroforming.
Although the present invention has been shown and described with respect to several preferred embodiments thereof, various changes, omissions and additions to the form and detail thereof, may be made therein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
