Heat transfer in mold flux-layers during slab continuous casting

A mathematical heat transfer model was developed, which calculates both the field flow and the temperature profile through the flux thickness between the mold and the strand. The physical condition of the flux in each point is calculated in dependence of the physical properties of the powder, the powder film thickness and the oscillation conditions. The properties of the flux have the biggest influence on the calculated dynamic behavior. The thermophysical and rheological properties of the most employed fluxes by Mexican steel plants were considered to carry out the simulations. Some of them were determined using standardized experimental techniques. It has been found a possible not linear velocity profile, which had not been reported before, depending on the flux properties and the operation conditions. This effect have some influence on the shear stress acting on the strand surface by the presence of the flux. An approximation for predicting the solidification behavior of the slag is made through thermodynamic calculations by means of a data bank of physicochemical properties for the mineralogical species that could be formed during flux cooling. Also the change in physical properties by small changes in the chemical compositions of the original commercial powders were experimentally determined.