ASSURE - Advanced Steel Shaping Using Reduced Energy

按价值计算，钢是世界上使用最多的材料，按重量计算，钢是使用第二多的材料(仅次于混凝土)，也是最可回收的材料之一。2013年，英国的钢铁产量约为1200万吨，其中大部分是大型综合工厂，如塔尔博特港和斯肯索普的塔塔钢铁厂。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。尽管在过去30年里，通过改进炼钢技术，生产一吨钢所需的能源减少了50%，但仍有必要进一步改进，以使该行业保持竞争力。钢铁供暖和再加热是钢铁供应链中的大部分能源消耗。因此，引入新的加工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，如果再加上通过铸造达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削减。该项目致力于建立实验室设施，用于模拟带式连铸或类似的近终形连铸工艺过程中产生的钢的微观组织。皮带铸造机具有很高的生产率，因此可以安装在大型综合钢厂中，例如目前使用传统大断面连铸的英国钢厂。这项新技术的引入将使每吨钢生产的能耗降低3GJ(基于减少热轧节省约2GJ/吨，通过近净形铸造节省约1.25GJ/吨)。由于能源使用的减少，二氧化碳排放量的减少也是显著的；考虑到2013年英国生产了1200万公吨钢铁，该项目可能导致英国二氧化碳排放量减少0.4%。这项可行性研究的主要成功标准将是建立实验模拟技术，能够准确地再现皮带铸件材料的凝固结构(微观偏析水平、晶粒度结构、表面特征)，其中冷却速度可达到约60℃/S。这将利用华威大学和伯明翰大学现有的凝固研究实验室设施(Gleeble 3500和共焦扫描激光显微镜)来实现，华威大学正在购买额外的设备(Gleeble HDS-V40)，以便在凝固过程中进行单向冷却，并将热钢材直接送入变形中。后一种能力将在英国产生一个独特的设施，并允许进一步的研究，以优化工艺条件和钢的化学成分，以产生先进的高强度钢(AHSS)的增强性能。进一步的成功将通过初步试验来确定生产AHSS牌号的铸造工艺窗口(冷却速度和成分限制)。

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.