9th ECCC European Continuous Casting Conference – ECCC 2017

Start of cast breakouts are a major concern for process reliability in the Tata Steel thin slab caster at IJmuiden, The Netherlands. Splashes at start of cast, emerging from the upper ports of the four port SEN, may cause weak spots in the solidifying shell, leading to sticker type breakouts. A threefold approach to investigate splashing behaviour has been followed, linking thermocouple data, visual inspection of front crops and results from water model studies. The combined results suggest that the splashes emerging from the SEN upper ports indeed lead to sticking behaviour at the narrow faces of the mould. Solutions are suggested in order to prevent splashes of steel from reaching the narrow faces.