ASSURE - Advanced Steel Shaping Using Reduced Energy

钢铁是世界上使用价值最多、重量第二多的材料（仅次于混凝土），也是最可回收的材料之一。2013年，英国生产了大约1200万吨钢铁，其中大部分是大型综合工厂，如塔塔钢铁在塔尔伯特港和斯肯索普的工厂。能源占钢铁生产成本的很大一部分，根据工厂的不同，从20%到40%不等。虽然在过去的30年里，生产一吨钢铁所需的能源已经减少了50%，但通过钢铁制造技术的改进，需要进一步的改进才能使该行业保持竞争力。钢铁的加热和再加热是钢铁供应链中能源消耗最多的环节。因此，引入新的加工路线以尽量减少或消除再加热阶段将对能源使用产生巨大影响，并且，如果通过铸造到接近净形状来减少热变形要求，则可以实现进一步的能源减少。该项目涉及建立实验室设施，以模拟钢在皮带铸造或类似的近净形铸造技术中产生的微观组织。带式铸造具有很高的生产率，因此可以安装在大型综合钢铁厂，例如在英国，传统的连续铸造到大断面目前使用。这项新技术的引入将使每吨钢的能耗降低300吉焦（基于减少热轧所节省的约2吉焦/吨和近净形铸造所节省的约1.25吉焦/吨）。由于能源使用的减少，二氧化碳排放量的减少也很显著；考虑到2013年英国生产了1200万吨钢铁，该项目可能会使英国的二氧化碳排放量减少100万吨。这项可行性研究的主要成功标准将是建立实验模拟技术，该技术可以准确地再现带式铸造材料的凝固结构（微偏析水平、晶粒结构、表面特征），其中冷却速度约为60℃/s。这将使用华威大学和伯明翰大学现有的凝固研究实验室设备（Gleeble 3500和共聚焦扫描激光显微镜）来实现，华威大学还将获得额外的设备（Gleeble HDS-V40），以便在凝固过程中进行单向冷却，并将热钢直接送入变形。后一种能力将在英国产生一个独特的设施，并允许进一步研究优化加工条件和钢的化学成分，以提高先进高强度钢（AHSS）的性能。进一步的成功将通过初步试验来证明，以确定生产AHSS等级的铸造工艺窗口（冷却速率和成分限制）。

Steel is the most used material in the world by value and second most used by weight (after concrete), it is also one of the most recyclable materials. In 2013 about 12 million tonnes of steel were manufactured in the UK, the majority at large integrated works such as the Tata Steel plants at Port Talbot and Scunthorpe. Energy constitutes a significant portion of the cost of steel production, from 20% to 40% depending on the plant. Whilst the amount of energy required to produce a tonne of steel has been reduced by 50% in the past 30 years, through improvements in steel making technologies, further improvements are necessary to allow the industry to remain competitive. Heating and reheating steel is responsible for most energy consumption in the steel supply chain. Therefore the introduction of new processing routes to minimise or eliminate reheating stages will have a dramatic effect on energy use, and, if this is coupled with reduced hot deformation requirements by casting to near net shape, further energy reductions can be realised. This project is concerned with establishing laboratory facilities for simulating the microstructures produced in steels during belt casting, or similar near net shape casting technologies. Belt casting has high productivity and therefore could be installed in large integrated steel works, such as those in the UK where conventional continuous casting to large sections is currently used. The introduction of this new technology would reduce energy consumption by > 3 GJ/tonne steel produced (based on savings of approximately 2 GJ/tonne from reduced hot rolling and approximately 1.25 GJ/tonne from near net shape casting). Reductions in CO2 emissions, due to the reduced energy use, is also significant; considering that 12 million metric tonnes of steel were produced in the UK in 2013, this project could result in a reduction in UK CO2 emissions of >0.4%. The major success criteria from this feasibility study will be to establish experimental simulation techniques that can accurately reproduce the solidification structures (micro-segregation levels, grain structure, surface characteristics) of belt cast material, where cooling rates of approximately 60 C/s can occur. This will be achieved using laboratory facilities for solidification studies (a Gleeble 3500 and a confocal scanning laser microscope) already present at the universities of Warwick and Birmingham, with additional equipment being acquired at Warwick (Gleeble HDS-V40) to allow uni-directional cooling during solidification and direct feed of the hot steel into deformation. This latter capability will generate a unique facility in the UK and allow further research to optimise processing conditions and steel chemistries to generate enhanced properties in advanced high strength steels (AHSS). Further success will be demonstrated by initial trials to determine casting process windows (cooling rates and composition limits) for producing an AHSS grade.