To transfer liquid steel from a teeming ladle to the continuous casting machine mould, an intermediate vessel, called a tundish, is used.
The continuous casting tundish serves as a buffer and links the discontinuous process of the secondary steel making in the ladle with the continuous casting process in the mould. It acts as a reservoir during the ladle change periods and continues to supply liquid steel to the mould when incoming liquid steel is stopped, making sequential casting by a number of ladles possible.
Many steel plant operators have studied their tundishes in order to maximize the benefits of the residence time available for the floatation and assimilation of reaction products from the liquid steel into the slag phase. These can be products of deoxidation, reoxidation, precipitation, emulsification and/or entrainment of refractory components into the liquid steel, and thus encompass both indigenous and exogenous inclusions. Based on a sound choice of tundish design, the operation of a tundish needs to be geared to the following.
- To promote inclusion floatation by maximizing residence time
- To ensure inclusion assimilation by a captive and noncorrosive slag
- To reduce thermal and chemical losses from the liquid steel
- To minimize short circuiting and dead zones
- To offer the operator an optimal design for quality and yield.
Tundish for CCM |