CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.
Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .
Exploitable results
The direct production of coiled in large coils metal strips by the twin-roll casting process has become a common practice in the aluminium industry and is considered in the steel industry due to financial as well as metallurgical advantages offered by the process. The main problem that haunts wider twin roll casting application in the aluminium industry is speed. The productivity of the technology can be increased up to several times, when the vertical caster arrangement is employed and the melt is supplied "upward" by means of the electromagnetic containment.
The containment of the melt in the working area of the device in focus of the project is provided by the Lorenz force. The force is created by the combination of the electric current through the melt and the dc magnetic field present in the melt. The current into the melt is supplied along the twin rolls via specially designed electrodes. The magnetic field, oriented mostly parallel to the rolls axes is created by a superconducting magnet. Application of a superconducting magnet instead of the copper band one drastically reduces the power consumption of the device.
The project was executed according to the contract planning, all main goals were reached. During the first year of the project, a concept and design development of the experimental device with the rolls diameter of 0.3m was conducted. Numerical models of the process were developed. The design parameters of the advanced casting device were specified as follows. The width of a metal strip - 0.5m; the gap between the rolls - 5mm, a casting speed - 0.2m/s; electro-magnetic pressure - 30 kH/m²; current through the melt 3 kA; magnetic induction in the working area - 0.5 Telsa. The electrodes supplying the electric current into the melt utilise both a heat-pipe and a magneto-hydro-dynamic effects and were cooled by the intermediate metal (led). The magnet system includes the superconducting magnet, the cryogenics and the iron yoke. Simple racetrack geometry was chosen for a superconducting coil. Several variants were analysed in respect to the appropriate location of the magnet in the device. A superconducting coil was produced, and successfully tested.
During the 2nd and 3rd years the following results were achieved. Major components of the experimental device were designed, produced and tested. Relevant numerical models were developed, tested and compared with the experiments. A superconducting magnet together with the cryostat was developed and successfully tested. Operating parameters of the magnet were obtained. Respectively, estimates of the electro-magnetic containment system with an integrated superconducting magnet were made both for the experimental and for the full-scale casting device. Furthermore, the components were collected and the complete electro-magnetic system of the experimental casting device was assembled and tested using a liquid metal (gallium). Impressive physical experiments were performed to contain a liquid metal between the rollers. In particular, a configuration of the device that provides a stable free boundary of liquid metal lifted into the space below and between the rollers-crystallises was found and conformed experimentally. The level of the liquid metal lifted by the Lorenz force was measured as a function of the operating parameters. Physical experiments were accompanied with the theoretical estimates of the proposed method and a comparison with the existing technologies. Magnetic system of the device was analysed and optimised numerically. The conducted research proves that the difficulties associated with the proposed "upward" continuous casting can be solved in an effective way and the required electromagnetic containment of a liquid metal on the space between and below the rollers is possible. This makes the "upward" method potentially promising and possibly beneficial when compared to the existing methods.
The scientific significance of the results obtained within the project is that a novel promising method of twin-roll strip casting has been studied theoretically, numerically and experimentally with a positive outcome. A possibility of the required electromagnetic containment of a liquid metal has been clearly demonstrated.
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