Break temperatures of mould fluxes and their relevance to continuous casting

Abstract

The break temperatures of mould fluxes are important since they help to control the horizontal heat transfer and lubrication between the steel shell and the mould, and consequently affect occurrences of longitudinal cracking and sticker breakout in continuous casting. Break temperatures T _br have been determined for both steady state and dynamic measurement of the viscosity, and equations relating T _br to chemical composition have been obtained for both cases. It has been found that T _br can be affected by (i) cooling rates and (ii) fluorine losses during the measurements.