Fundamentals of Metal Processing and Casting Operations

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The primary aim of this discovery grant is to advance our knowledge on 1) how to improve the intrinsic quality of liquid steel (as measured by lower concentrations of smaller inclusions below 50 microns), in order to significantly improve the general properties of steels, and 2) how to develop a better way to cast steels versus the current technology for steel sheet production. This uses machines to continuously cast thick (350 mm), or thin (60 mm), slabs, followed by slab reheat furnaces, and six, or seven, stands of hot rolling mills, to finally produce hot rolled coils. The new Near Net Shape Casting (NNSC) technology, proposed some twenty years ago, is vital for the production of new, advanced high strength, high ductility (HSHD) steels for the transportation sector. These advanced steels are high in manganese (~30%) and aluminum (~7%), using TRIP [transformation induced plasticity] and TWIP [Twinning induced plasticity] strengthening mechanisms. Such steel grades are beyond the capabilities of the current technology, but can triple the strength and quintuple elongations of conventional steels! Given these attributes, one can "lightweight" automobile and truck bodies, very significantly. To meet these objectives, we have unique equipment at hand, on which our graduate students can perform their experimental research; a full scale water model of a typical ladle-tundish-mold facility, and a large, pilot scale, Horizontal Single Belt Caster (HSBC), together with appropriate induction furnaces plus various resistance furnaces operating between 1000 C and 1800 C. These will be used in conjunction with our high performance SGI computer cluster, also at our Stinson Laboratory, as well as smaller ancillary equipment, so that we can formulate, and experimentally verify, various research strategies, and plan associated follow-up research projects, to accomplish these objectives. It will simultaneously lead to the training of High Quality Personnel, specialized in both the practical and theoretical aspects of Process Metallurgical Engineering. This HSBC casting research is also of great relevance to the aluminum industry. Thus, over the next five year granting period, we expect to graduate a total of about ten doctoral students for industry, academia, and government. Whilst Canada presently has strong steel and aluminum companies, and well trained engineers, University Researchers must help this situation by continuing to produce graduates trained and familiar with leading edge advances in technologies of relevance to these industries. Cleaner steels and HSBC casting are two such areas of great importance in the future of steelmaking, where the MMPC is working in collaboration with QIT (Quebec Iron and Titanium) of RTIT, with AMD (Dofasco) and HATCH, as well as its other globally dispersed companies that have supported us, to help effect these transformations.*** **