Submerged-entry nozzle (SEN) clogging during continuous casting is a well-known but not well-understood phenomenon, impacting steelmaking productivity and quality. Physical water modeling provides insight on mold flow, but prior studies including SEN clogging have used simplified approaches. The true shape of SEN clogging is complex, and its impact on mold flow may not be reflected during simulations. Additionally, SEN clogging formation is cumulative, but it can only be observed after the SEN’s removal from the caster. In this article, realistically clogged SENs were replicated with enhancements and installed in a physical twin to study the impact on mold flow.

Control of non-metallic inclusion composition, morphology, and distribution is crucial for superior product quality, enhanced mechanical properties, and efficient processing in the era of “clean” steels. This study addresses the limitations of prevailing semi-quantitative inclusion assessment standards, specifically ASTM E45 and ASTM E2142, by benchmarking their results with the quantitative statistical technique, ASTM E2283. A refined approach is proposed that employs relevant statistical data sets for specific grades of oil country tubular goods and line pipe steel tubulars to predict composition-based critical inclusion sizes that may be linked to specific performance properties, such as fracture toughness in hydrogen and sour envi-ronments.

Mechanical soft reduction (MSR) is an established technology to improve the internal quality and mac-rosegregation levels for products with the highest quality demands. A compact design of the MSR units, ad-vanced on-line solidification and temperature modeling, as well as highest accuracies in terms of reduction rate and force stability, ensure a fully efficient and dynamically controlled process based on the actual cast-ing parameters and process conditions. This article shall give insight into the latest MSR developments to meet rising quality standards of advanced applications, the demand for maximum production flexibility and larger rolled sizes with a strong focus on sustainability.

Tundish-to-mold shrouds, which include the submerged-entry nozzle (SEN), monotubes and sub-merged-entry shrouds, play a crucial role in transferring liquid steel to the mold. Most products are designed to work well within an ideal operating window. When operating under wide mold widths and slow casting speeds, the steel streams exiting the nozzle have low momentum and do not reach the narrow faces effec-tively. This can lead to suboptimal flow and temperature distribution within the mold. Sticker alarms were experienced at the Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor caster under certain conditions. A comprehensive study was undertaken to evaluate the flow under these conditions using both computational and physical model-ing techniques. The effect of several design features of the SEN on the flow in the SEN and eventually the mold is investigated and presented. Implementation of design features to achieve better flow distribution in the mold and reducing the potential for stickers are presented.