The shrinkage of round iron-carbon ingots during solidification and subsequent cooling has been investigated with hot model experiments involving round ingots of 50 kg of steel. Three motor driven sensors made it possible to measure the shrinkage without deformation of the shell starting a few seconds after casting.The temperature distribution was computed with a thermal model. Thereafter, a mechanical model was applied to compute the shrinkage finding satisfactory agreement between the measured and computed shrinkage-time curves. Data are given on the effect of carbon content on the shrinkage of steel and it was confirmed that there is a shrinkage peak at about 0.1 mass% carbon.KEY WORDS: shrinkage of carbon steels; solidification of carbon steels; peritectic steels. crease of density) associated with the d/g transformation. During solidification of an ingot (strand) the d/g transformation occurs layerwise, due to the temperature gradient, Fig. 2. Consequently, there is a dϩg band in the solid shell with steep change of the thermal contraction value, moving inwards with time, and this effect will enhance the formation of thermal stress. Hence, the quantitative treatment of the shrinkage of steel during solidification and of the associated formation of stress is of high interest for various reasons.We have performed extensive shrinkage measurements on iron-carbon alloys and developed a corresponding mathematical model for the computation of displacements, strains and stresses originating during solidification and subsequent cooling. The results are reported in the following.
Experimental Method for Shrinkage MeasurementsAs has already been mentioned shrinkage* 1 measurements under continuous casting conditions are extremely difficult or even impossible, but they are feasible on standing ingots. The experimental setup used in the present study is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It consists of an instrumented mold with feeding channel installed within the chamber of a vacuum induction furnace. The round mold is made of grey cast iron and has a height of 470 mm, an I.D. of 140 mm (at half height) and an O.D. of 240 mm. The mass of the cast steel melts is 50 kg.The surface position of the solidifying ingot is determined with a contact mechanism, Fig. 4, using an alumina sheath as a sensor and an inductive transducer to record its position. In the early stages of solidification the shell is thin and soft, and the contact of the sensor must be gentle to avoid deformation of the surface. Therefore, the sensor is not pressed permanently against the ingot but is driven by a motor towards the surface and then withdrawn immediately after contact has been made. The contact is recorded electrically via a platinum bead located at the tip of the sheath and connected, with a platinum wire, to the control unit of the motor. So, the sensor moves towards the ingot and the platinum bead touches the ingot surface. The control unit receives a signal to change the polarity of the power supply of the motor and the motor rotates in reverse dire...