MACRO-MICRO MODELING OF THE DENDRITIC MICROSTRUCTURE OF STEEL BILLETSPROCESSED BY CONTINUOUS-CASTING

Operating data of a steel billet easter such as casting speed steel te mperature and cooling conditions in the water spray zone are employed to predict dendritic microstructures of solidified steel. For that sem i-empirical equations to calculate primary and secondary arm spacing w ere derived from uni-directional solidification experiments of steel s amples with various compositions. When these equations are combined wi th a heat transfer model, which involves operating parameters of a eas ter, it is possible to predict dendritic microstructures, making possi ble micro-modeling from macro-processing data. Experimental measuremen ts of primary and secondary arm spacing in four commercial steels agre ed acceptably well by the predictions performed using this approach. T he knowledge of microstructure will allow to pursue predictions of mic rosegregation phenomena.