ASSURE 2 - Advanced Steel Shaping Using Reduced Energy

按价值计算，钢铁仍然是世界上使用最多的材料，并在社会的各个方面发挥着重要作用，从建筑到运输，从能源生产到食品生产。随着所有权的改变，英国钢铁行业正在经历重大变化。英国钢铁制造的长期可持续性要求降低能源产量，并开发高价值的钢铁产品。能源占钢铁生产成本的很大一部分，在20%至40%之间，尽管通过炼钢技术的变化，生产一吨钢铁所需的能源量在过去30年中减少了50%，但仍有必要进一步改进。钢铁加热和再加热是钢铁供应链中的重大能源消耗。因此，引入新的工艺路线以最大限度地减少或消除再加热阶段将对能源使用产生巨大影响，如果再加上通过浇注到接近净形状来减少热变形，可以实现进一步的节能。该项目致力于建立使用皮带铸造技术生产传统和先进的高强度带钢(AHSS)钢种的工艺和化学窗口。皮带铸造是一种近终形铸造工艺，生产的带材需要最小的热变形才能达到所需的产品厚度。与传统的大断面连铸和随后的热轧相比，这是一条显著降低能耗的生产路线，例如，每生产一吨钢，能耗可以降低&gt；3GJ(基于节省约3GJ)。减少热轧所得的2GJ/吨和约1.25千焦耳/吨，来自近净型材铸造)。此外，带式连铸可以生产目前不能用传统工艺生产的AHSS钢种：TWIP(孪生诱发塑性)和TRIP(相变诱发塑性)钢种具有高加工硬化率，这意味着它们不能在当前的热轧带钢机组中轧制；低密度(高铝)钢具有非常大的晶粒度(毫米)，导致加工性较差(例如，在连铸过程中热撕裂)。这些钢具有极高的商业吸引力，因为它们的性能非常优越(TWIP和TRIP钢的强度是常规钢的2倍，延展性是传统钢的3倍，高铝钢具有良好的强度和较低的密度)，这有助于汽车和建筑行业的轻量化。在Assured可行性项目期间，WMG建立了可行性项目设施，允许模拟带式铸造微观组织，包括在不同冷却速度下对凝固钢进行动态直接观察。结果表明，带式连铸的冷却速度比传统板坯连铸的冷却速度快，改变了铸坯的组织，通过成分控制可以进一步改善组织(如降低高铝钢的晶粒度)。在这个项目(ASSURE2)中，将建立成分、工艺参数和显微组织(从而最终产品性能)之间的定量关系，考虑到与传统工艺相比，皮带铸造的冷却速度更快，铸造后的热变形减少到最终厚度。还将考虑新的概念，如用于成分修改和/或凝固温度降低的大气控制以及用于组织细化的电磁场。与加拿大McGill大学的Guslee教授的合作将为科学研究提供显著的附加值，转包使用他们在MetSim的试点工厂设施，使我们能够考虑从实验室科学研究到与工业相关的加工。

Steel continues to be the most used material in the world by value and play an essential role in all aspects of society, from construction to transport, energy generation to food production. The UK steel industry is undergoing significant changes with changes in ownership. The long-term sustainability of UK steel making requires lower energy production and the development of high value steel products. Energy constitutes a significant portion of the cost of steel production, between 20% to 40% and, whilst the amount of energy required to produce a tonne of steel has reduced by 50% in the past 30 years through changes in steel making technologies, further improvements are necessary. Heating and reheating steel is responsible for significant 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 by casting to near net shape, further energy reductions can be realised.This project is concerned with establishing the process and chemistry windows for production of conventional and advanced high strength strip (AHSS) steel grades using belt casting technology. Belt casting is a near net shape casting process, producing strip that needs minimal hot deformation to achieve the required product thickness. It is a significantly lower energy production route compared to traditional continuous casting to large sections with subsequent hot rolling, for example energy consumption could be reduced by > 3 GJ/tonne steel produced (based on savings of approx. 2 GJ/tonne from reduced hot rolling and approx. 1.25 GJ/tonne from near net shape casting). In addition belt casting allows the production of AHSS steel grades that cannot currently be manufactured using conventional processing: TWIP (twinning induced plasticity) and TRIP (transformation induced plasticity) grades have high work hardening rates meaning they cannot be rolled in current hot rolling strip mills; and low density (high Al) steels have very large grain sizes (millimeters) that result in poor processability (e.g. hot tearing during continuous casting). These steels are extremely attractive commercially, given their vastly superior properties (TWIP and TRIP steels are 2x as strong, with 3x the ductility of conventional steels, and high Al steels have a combination of good strength and lower density), which can contribute to light weighting in the automotive and construction industries.During the ASSURE feasibility project facilities were established at WMG to allow simulation belt cast microstructures, including dynamic direct observation of the solidifying steel at different cooling rates. It was shown that the microstructures are altered by the higher cooling rate of belt casting, compared to conventional slab casting, and that further beneficial modifications (e.g. reduction in grain size in high Al steels) can be achieved by composition control. In this project (ASSURE2), quantitative relationships between composition, process parameters and microstructure (and hence final product properties) will be established, taking into account the higher cooling rates of belt casting and the reduced hot deformation after casting to final thickness compared to conventional processing. Novel new concepts, such as atmospheric control for composition modification and / or solidification temperature reduction and electromagnetic fields for microstructure refinement will also be considered. The collaboration with Professor Guthrie at McGill University in Canada, the leading expert on belt casting technology and computational modelling of liquid metal processes, will provide significant added value to the scientific studies, with the subcontract to use their pilot plant facilities, at MetSim, allowing us to consider the scale up from laboratory scientific studies to industrially relevant processing.