Speaker
Description
During the manufacturing of the modern high strength steels, it is very important to know the austenite level compared to ferrite at given positions in the line during the steel production. Indeed, ensuring the constancy of the austenite fraction is mandatory for the constancy of the mechanical properties of the final product.
There are several positions in the line where it is essential to know the fraction of austenite, namely for example, the exit of zinc bath or several intermediate locations in the furnace in steel galvanising lines.
These positions induce many constraints which are very difficult to address. Indeed, this new sensor aims to overcome the limitations of current measurement devices of the austenite level in steels. In particular, the sensor allows the measurement at low or high temperature of the steel strip (850°C). It allows the measurement at a distance of several tens of millimetres of the strip while keeping a sufficient sensitivity. The measurement is not influenced by the vibrations of the strip as well as by abrupt change of the distance sensor – strip. This sensor is also able to work above and below the Curie temperature. The modularity of this sensor allows characterising not only the full width but different zones on the width and, particularly, the sides and borders of the strip which can show different properties due to different behaviour during the heating or cooling phase.
Keywords
Steel materials and their application, surface technologies, on-line, product quality, measurement, austenite level, sensor