| Abstract: | Most of the metallurgical effects resulting from electroslag remelting of metal may be divided into two groups, namely, the effects due to the slag/metal reactions taking place and the effects due to the special solidification conditions characteristic of this process. Solidification of ESR ingots takes place progressively as heat is removed from the liquid metal pool via the mold walls. By careful matching of the melting rate with the freezing rate, the desired shallow metal pool is attained, leading to the well known directional solidification pattern with consequent improvement in properties of the steel. The choice of power parameters is limited by a compromise between the need for a high melting rate for economic reasons (costs) which may tend to give a rather deep metal pool and the need for a shallow metal pool to obtain optimum metallurgical properties. In this process only a relatively small amount of the total energy input is actually utilized to melt down the metal. The major part of the energy is lost from the slag and metal pool to the water cooled mold. In this paper the results of numerical and experimental investigations are presented, setting out a simple method of saving energy and controlling the solidification pattern of the ingot. This method involves the addition of solid particles to the melt to utilize the surplus energy evolved in the central area of the slag bath. |
