As mentioned in our previous post, the main equipment of billet continuous casting machine is usually the whole equipment from receiving the ladle to cutting the billet into fixed length and collecting it on the cooling bed. This blog focus on the auxiliary equipment from the ladle transportation equipment, tundish and tundish car, billet cutting device, billet conveying roller, cooling bed, billet collecting device and electromagnetic stirring device.
Ladle transport equipment
Common types include the following:
- Using a crane to lift the ladle for casting: Generally used for continuous casting machines with simpler equipment and less investment, and continuous casting machines often do not cast continuously. Since the crane occupies the working position, it has a certain impact on production scheduling and the utilization rate of the crane. This ladle transportation method is suitable for steel plants where the ladle and the continuous casting machine are in the same span.
- Ladle mobile casting car: The ladle mobile casting car is set on the steel casting platform and can carry the ladle to move on the steel casting platform. This type often makes the casting platform appear crowded and brings inconvenience to the maintenance and replacement of the main equipment on the platform and the replacement of the tundish.
- Ladle turret: The ladle turret is an ideal ladle carrier. It can be used to move the ladle filled with molten steel from the steel tapping span to the casting span, and position the ladle on the tundish to be cast. When the molten steel is poured, the ladle is transferred to the steel tapping span so that it can be lifted away by the crane in the steel tapping span. The ladle turret also has the function of ladle weighing, which can weigh the load of the two arms separately and report the weight of the molten steel in the ladle to the control system and the operator. Some ladle turret also have many functions such as argon blowing temperature adjustment and ladle capping. However, the more functions there are, the more complex the equipment and control involved are, and the investment also increases accordingly. Generally, it should be based on meeting production requirements.
Tundish and tundish car
The tundish is a container for molten steel between the ladle and the crystallizer. It has the functions of decompression, diversion, removal of inclusions and storage of molten steel. Its transportation equipment is a tundish car or a tundish turntable. Tundish cars are mostly used as transportation equipment in production.
In order to implement multi-furnace continuous casting and improve the operating rate of the casting machine, two tundish “parking positions” and one “casting position” are generally set on the continuous casting machine steel casting platform. The function of the tundish car is to quickly and accurately transport the prepared tundish from the “parking position” to the “casting position”, or to quickly return the used tundish from the “casting position” to the “parking position” at the end of casting.
Cutting equipment for billets
The cutting equipment of the continuous casting machine is to cut the billets into the required fixed length during the billet drawing process. The billet cutting equipment can be divided into two categories: flame cutting equipment and mechanical shearing equipment.
- Flame cutting equipment: During flame cutting, oxygen and fuel gas are used to cut the billets through the cutting nozzle. The fuel gas includes acetylene, propane, natural gas or coke oven gas. When cutting stainless steel, iron powder must be sprayed to oxidize it, form high temperature, and cut the billet With flame cutting, the cutting equipment is light in weight, the cutting section is not restricted, and the incision is relatively smooth, but there is metal consumption during cutting, and the yield of the billet is reduced by 0.5-1%. In addition, there is pollution to the environment, and smoke exhaust and slag cleaning equipment should be installed.
- Mechanical shearing equipment: Since shearing is carried out during movement, the shearing machine used on the continuous casting machine is also called flying shear. Mechanical shearing requires large equipment, but its shearing speed is fast, the shearing time is only 2-4s, and the sizing accuracy is high. Especially when producing short-length billets, it has no metal loss and is easy to operate, so it is widely used on small billet continuous casting machines. According to the movement mode of the shearing machine, it can be divided into horizontal electric swing shearing machine, vertical electric swing shearing machine and 45-degree hydraulic mobile shearing machine. Among them, the 45-degree hydraulic shear improves the quality of the shearing surface. The shearing surface of the billet after shearing is slightly smaller than that of the billet, which is very beneficial for biting during rolling.
Other equipment
- Billet conveying roller: The function of the billet conveying roller is to send the small-pitch flexible billet into the billet straightening machine before casting and to send the billet back to the storage area after casting. During casting, the billet out of the billet straightening machine is continuously transported to the billet collection device after cutting.
- Steel billet collection device: After the billet reaches the top baffle of the billet unloading area through the conveyor roller, the billet is pushed horizontally to the cooling bed for slow cooling by the billet collection device. The billet collection device mainly includes a steel pusher, a horizontal conveyor, etc.
- Cooling bed: The billet is prone to deformation and bending when it is lifted in a red-hot state, especially when the billet is long. At the same time, in order to ensure the quality of the billet, the entire billet cooling process is carried out slowly, so a cooling bed is needed to achieve this goal. There are many forms of cooling beds for small square billets: the most typical and best effect is the flip-type step-by-step cooling bed.
- Electromagnetic stirring: Electromagnetic stirring technology is used in continuous casting production, which helps to improve the quality of the billet and improve the purity of the steel.
