Chapter 5

Conventional ingot and continuous casting

The previously discussed methods are used to manufacture a steel of a desired quality
and composition. The refined molten steel must be cast into some useful shape for subsequent
treatments and forming operations. In the conventional production of wrought steel products,
the steel is cast into a large tapered cast iron vessel to form an ingot. The ingot is subsequently
rolled into slabs or billets, which may be used for the production of standard product forms such
as plate, sheet, pipe, rod, and wire. Alternatively, slabs or billets can be cast directly during the
primary casting operation in process called continuous casting. Indeed, the development of
economical continuous casting processes over the last 20 years has had a tremendous impact on
the steel industry, as indicated in Table 5.1. While ingot casting and continuous casting both
involve the solidification of the steel, the issues that affect the properties of the steel in the ingot
and continuous processes are quite different. These will be discussed in this section.

Table 5.1. A 10-year summary of raw steel production by type and casting method.

Per Cent of Total Total by Casting Method

(thou. tons) Stain- Elec- Cont. Steel for
Year Total Carbon Alloy less BOP tric Ingots Cast Casting

2001 99,321 91.4 6.6 2.0 52.6 47.4 2,799 96,502 20

2000 112,242 90.5 7.4 2.1 53.0 47.0 4,044 108,175 23
1999 107,395 89.9 7.9 2.2 53.8 46.2 4,389 102,983 23
1998 108,752 89.2 8.7 2.0 54.9 45.1 4,840 103,883 29
1997 108,561 88.4 9.4 2.2 56.2 43.8 5,689 102,834 38

1996 105,309 88.9 9.1 2.0 57.4 42.6 7,141 98,131 37

1995 104,930 88.3 9.5 2.2 59.6 40.4 9,272 95,626 32
1994 100,579 89.0 9.0 2.0 60.7 39.3 10,527 90,026 26
1993 97,877 88.7 9.3 2.0 60.6 39.4 14,014 83,839 24
1992 92,949 88.7 9.2 2.1 62.0 38.0 19,207 73,718 24
Conventional ingots
After the final ladle treatments are made
and the chemistry of the steel is satisfactory, the
ladle is tapped from the bottom by lifting the
internal stopper-rod, permitting the flow of
molten metal. The steel is poured or teemed (see
Fig.5.1) into the ingot molds, where it begins to
cool and solidify. Ideally, the ingot would cool
uniformly, resulting in a chemically homogenous
equiaxed structure, free from voids, cracks, and
nonmetallic inclusions. However, the geometry of
the ingot and the thermal properties of the steel
promote an inward freezing process that is very
slow. In fact, the center of the ingot typically is still
molten when the ingot mold is removed or stripped
from the ingot. Typical ingot solidification times
are shown in Fig 5.2. After stripping, ingots are
places in a furnace called a soaking pit, where the
temperature of the ingot is controlled to promote Fig.5.1 Conventional ingots being poured.
homogenization of the steel. The nonuniform
cooling that occurs in an ingot coupled with the
many dissolved impurities and gasses, gives ride
to various chemical segregation phenomena that
generate defect structures in the ingot and
ultimately affect the downstream properties or
process ability.
As in any other metal-casting process, the
structure that develops during the solidification of
an ingot is primarily controlled by heat transfer,
fluid flow, and the solubility of the various
dissolved species. Immediately upon pouring, a
chill zone or skin is formed as the steel begins to
solidify on the surface of the iron mold. As the
skin thickens, stresses may be accommodated by
the separation of the ingot from the mold wall,
forming an air gap which significantly slows the
subsequent cooling. Alternatively, solidification
shrinkage may result in cracking of the skin.
Cambered, corrugated, or fluted ingot molds,
which increase the ingot surface area, may be used
to promote uniform thick skin formation,
preventing this type of surface cracking. Similar
cracks and fissures, however, may also form in the
interior of the ingot. If these are not open to the
surface, they are generally welded shut during hot
rolling and are inconsequential. Cracks that are
open to the surface, however, will become
oxidized and will not be readily fused. These
defects give rise to undesirable seams in the final
rolled product.

Fig. 5.2 Freezing time profiles for a typical steel

ingot. Times given in minutes.
 Many of the defects observed in an ingot are due to the growth morphologies and related
segregation patterns that arise during solidification. The ingot skin is a chill zone of fine
randomly oriented equiaxed grains. The growth rate of this equiaxed zone is initially high, but
slows quickly as the mold-metal air gap is formed. As the skin thickens to 10-15mm, the equaixed
structure gives way to inward columnar growth due to the selection of preferentially oriented
grains. As the growth proceeds further, the thermal gradient continues to decrease until dendrite
fragmentation and nucleation ahead of the columnar front give rise to an equiaxed zone in the
center of the ingot. The columnar structure is not desirable in a steel ingot. An exaggerated
columnar zone, termed ingotism, may lead to cracking during subsequent rolling operations. The
most important factors controlling the “columnar to equiaxed transition” during dendritic
solidification are the thermal gradient and the speed at which the columnar front is advancing. A
low thermal gradient gives rise to a thick two-phase layer containing columnar dendrites. This
layer, known as the mushy zone, has a thickness roughly equal to the freezing range of the steel,
divided by the thermal gradient. As the thickness of the mushy zone increases, the likelihood of
dendrite fragmentation increases, favoring the onset of equiaxed growth. The speed of the
dendritic front is important because it is related to the dendrite tip undercooling. Undercooling
increases with growth velocity so that a faster growing columnar front is at a lower temperature
than a slower growing front. Thus, there is a greater volume of undercooled liquid ahead of the
primary structure, where fragments can grow and where new nuclei may form. Accordingly,
ingot casting practices that promote uniform cooling enhance the extent of the more desirable
equiaxed structure.
Chemical inhomogeneity may be significant in an ingot. Short-range inhomogeneity or
microsegregation is due to the partitioning behavior of dissolved species, while long range
nonuniformity or macrosegregation is typically due to the convective flow patterns in the molten
steel.
The solubility of gases in the molten steel generally decreases with decreasing
temperature. More importantly, the solubility in the solid may be much lower than the solubility
in the liquid. Upon solidification, this partitioning behavior results in the liberation of gases,
depending on the amount originally present in the steel. The most important process is the
reaction of oxygen, in the form of FeO, with carbon in the steel. Carbon monoxide gas is evolved,
and various defect structures may be generated. The control of these structures is accomplished
through melt deoxidation and casting practices, and four standard classifications have been
established, based on the degree of oxygen removal.
Leading to a discussing of the specific classifications, let’s consider a steel that undergoes
on ladle deoxidation processing. When poured into the ingot mold, solidification of the skin
ensues rapidly and a large amount of oxygen is immediately released near the mold surface. The
rising bubbles of evolved gas result in a boiling or rimming action characterized by an upward
flow near the mold walls. If the rimming action is sufficiently severe, gas bubbles are swept
upward along the mold surfaces toward the top of the ingot. This flow serves to clean the steel in
the outer regions of the ingot and facilitates the escape of a large portion of the evolved gas. A
negative side effect of such violent flow in the mold is that macrosegregation may be significant.
A rimmed steel, therefore, is characterized by excellent surface properties and significant chemical
inhomogeneity.
Consider now a process identical to the one described above, with one modification.
After the ingot is poured and the rimming action begins, a metal cap is placed over the ingot.
This capping process inhibits the release of gas at the metal surface and suppresses the upward
flow of the rimming action. Accordingly, a capped steel is characterized by significantly less
macrosegregation than that exhibited by a rimmed steel, but also by a thinner rimmed zone.
Furthermore, if the rimming is suppressed too early, blowholes may be generated along the ingot
surfaces, ultimately resulting in the appearance of seams. It should be noted that there is a
continuum of intermediate ingot structures between rimmed and capped steels. The two
processes should be considered in combination, facilitating a desired balance between chemical
 Killed Capped Rimmed

Fig. 5.3 The effect of oxygen content and control on typical ingot structure.

homogeneity and surface properties. In practice, capping is most effective for steels between 0.15
and 0.30% carbon, while rimming is best applied to steels with lower carbon content.
The capping process is a method for mechanical suppression of the deleterious effects of
dissolved oxygen. A chemical alternative to theses methods involves removal of the oxygen from
the molten steel prior to casting. This is generally done with silicon additions of ferrosilicon, high
silicon pig iron, or silico-manganese. If the steel is deoxidized sufficiently, the evolution of gas is
completely suppressed, killing the rimming action. The resulting ingot is relatively uniform in
structure and the prevention of the boil results in substantially decreased macrosegregation.
Because no gas bubbles are formed in the melt, solidification shrinkage is accommodated at the
upper surface by the formation of a large shrinkage cavity or pipe. Killed steels are typically used
when the essential quality is structural soundness. In general, all steels with a carbon content
higher than 0.30 wt.% are killed. Semikilled steels are only partially deoxidized and typically
contain 0.15-0.30% carbon. Some gas evolution is observed and internal blowholes are formed to
an extent that accommodates much or all of the total solidification shrinkage. Therefore, the pipe
observed in a killed ingot is not present. Typical ingot structures are shown in Fig. 5.3.

Continuous Casting
The continuous casting process was developed so that the product form produced could
be directly rolled on a finishing mill, thus bypassing the ingot casting and slabbing operations. In
addition, the process has led to improvements in both yield and quality. Coupled with the
general trend away from the large integrated steel mill toward the smaller specialized minimill,
the development of the continuous casting process has significantly changed the way that a large
portion of today’s steel is produced. Currently, over 50% of the world’s steel is produced with
continuous casting processes. In this section, the features of the process that affect the
metallurgical quality of the steel are briefly discussed.
The distinguishing characteristic of a continuous casting process is that the mold is open
on both ends so that the solidified metal can be drawn out while the molten metal is being poured
in the opposite end. The principal components of a continuous casting line, or strand, are shown
in Fig.5.4. The primary tasks that must be accomplished by the strand are similar to those of ingot
casting. The molten metal must first be delivered to the casting strand. This is done by pouring
from the ladle into the vessel known as a tundish, which controls the flow and distributes the steel
to one or more open-ended, water-cooled copper molds, where solidification begins. A shroud
 protects the steel from oxidation during the transfer.
Upon contact with the mold, an outer skin or shell is
immediately formed. Sticking of the steel to the mold
surface is prevented by mold oscillation. After exiting
the mold, complete freezing of the molten core is
achieved through secondary cooling, using direct water
spray. The distance from the mold to the location of
complete freezing is known as the metallurgical
length. Finally, as the cast slab moves beyond the
secondary cooling zone, it is cut to the desired length
using a torch or shear mounted on a sliding frame.
Early continuous casting strands were of the vertical
design, where all of these components were simply
aligned in an upright configuration. To reduce the
overall height and the required tundish elevation,
several different configurations were developed, as
shown in Fig. 5.5. These modifications permitted
installation of continuous casting strands in existing
plants.

Fig. 5.4 (right) A schematic of a continuous

casting strand showing the major components.

Fig. 5.5 (below) Principal types of continuous casting.

V=vertical; VB=vertical with bending; VPB=vertical with
progressive bending; CAS=circular arc with straight mold;
CAC=circular arc with curved mold; PBC=progressive bending
with curved mold; H=horizontal.