Research Group Strip Casting
The research group strip casting is working on further development of the vertical twin-roll casting of steel and therefore operates a laboratory scale twin-roll caster. Their research includes further development of the process with regard to quality and new products, enhancement and optimization of caster components and the development of new, for twin-roll casting optimized materials and their processing.
High efficiency electrical steels produced by strip casting
Non-oriented electrical steel is used in rotating electrical machines such as generators and electric motors. A high silicon content in the electrical steel can help to increase the efficiency of these electrical machines. However, there are limits to the addition of silicon, as it embrittles the material, making further processing such as cold rolling impossible. By producing electrical steel sheets close to the final dimensions, the rolling effort can be reduced considerably. Strip casting could thus represent an approach to further expand the alloy spectrum compared with the conventional process route. The process-technological fundamentals of strip casting for the novel alloys are being worked out on the laboratory plant available at the IBF. The subsequent processing of the high-alloy iron alloys into finally annealed electrical steel strip is also being investigated using the IBF's rolling and annealing facilities.
For further information, please contact Max Müller.
Clad Strip Produced by Vertical Strip Casting
Clad metals are found in various applications, since they allow for cost-efficient combination of properties of different metals and alloys. Their wide-spread application means several production methods already exists, albeit each with their own limitations. Their production via vertical strip casting poses an alternative, which exploits the short process route of twin-roll strip casting to address these limitations. The Institute of Metal Forming operates its own twin-roll caster. On this caster a prefabricated strip is inserted into the process and, exploiting the process heat, a bond between prefabricated and cast strip is created in the roll gap. Clad strips with thickness ratios between cast and inserted strip of 6:1 to 10:1 have been realized for various steel alloy pairings. The strips have been subsequently examined to describe and understand the underlying bonding mechanism. As the next step cladding of steel strips with non-ferrous metals via this route is to be researched.
For further information, please contact Max Müller.
Strip Casting of Strips With Tailored Cross Sections
Load optimized parts are indispensable in modern light-weight constructions. But their production is still extensive and non-trivial.
Following the idea of process shortening, twin-roll strip casting is used to produce hot strips with tailored cross-sections directly from melt.
Combining contoured casting rolls and a complementary contoured hot roll pass, which exploits the process heat, it is possible to produce hot strips with continuous transitions, which possess a slope up to 45 °, and thickness differences up to 60 % energy-efficiently. These strips are well suited as semi-finished products for various parts with tailored cross-sections.
For further information, please contact Max Müller.
Twin-Roll Strip Casting of High Manganese Steels
Within the collaborative research project SFB 761 “Steel – ab initio“, the entire process chain for the production of high and medium manganese steels, including strip casting, hot and cold rolling is investigated. The investigated steel alloys require comprehensive adaptions regarding casting additives, refractory material, and casting, hot and cold rolling parameters. In addition, potential opportunities for influencing the mechanical properties of the strip by varying the casting and rolling parameters will be examined. Thus, taking advantage of the outstanding strain hardening behavior of these manganese steels enables the production of tailor-made semi-finished products in a drastically shortened process chain.
For further information, please contact Max Müller.