Instrumentation and simulation of industrial steel wire rod cooling line

A coupled thermal and metallurgical mathematical model has been developed t o simulate the Stelmor process for controlled cooling of steel wire rod. Th e model predicts the through section microstructure, which is subsequently used to estimate the mechanical properties, in terms of ferrite fraction, f errite grain size, and interlamellar pearlite spacing. Plant trials were co nducted to evaluate heat transfer coefficients for the water and forced air cooling stages of the process in terms of the process parameters. To enabl e the development of a control model, the effect of individual process para meters, including their extreme settings, on rod temperature distribution w as studied. An inverse modelling approach has been used to optimise the val ue of the heat transfer coefficient. The model results were compared with p lant trials for a range of rod diameters, rolling speeds, number of active water boxes, and the operation ratio of the Stelmor fans. This validation w as performed for three carbon - manganese steel grades (0.07-0.67%C) with r od diameters of 5.5-14.0 mm. A good agreement between the predicted and mea sured thermal behaviour of the rod was achieved. MST/4705.