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CONTROL OF COLUMNAR-TO-EQUIAXED
TRANSITION IN CONTINUOUS CASTING
OF 16% Cr STAINLESS STEEL
J.C. Kim , J.J. Kim, J.Y. Choi, J.H.Choi, S.K. Kim – POSCO, Korea

In continuous casting of 16%Cr ferritic stainless steel, columnar grains undesirably forming among equiaxed
grains make non-uniform microstructure and degrade ridging property. Since this phenomenon results from
the change of solidification condition during continuous casting, we focused on Cellular-to-Equiaxed Transi-
tion (CET) in continuous casting of 16%Cr ferritic stainless steel to control the microstructure of as-cast slab.
In order to find the CET condition, we carried out the one dimensional heat transfer analysis of the melt, and
predicted the CET condition by Hunt’s model. It was revealed that the secondary columnar grains usually for-
med at 0.5~0.8 solid fractions, and the formation of them resulted from a steep increase of G/V1/2 value as the
melt was getting out of EMS field; however the increase of G/V1/2 was readily controlled by changing EMS
pattern and the secondary cooling intensity. In result, secondary columnar grains were eliminated by opti-
mizing the upper and lower EMS intensity, and increasing secondary cooling intensity. We also investigated
the effect of solidification parameters including superheat and casting speed as CET condition in continuous
casting process, and the results were also discussed by the terms of thermal condition of melt.

KEYWORDS: Ferritic stainless steel, continuous casting, ridging, columnar-to-equiaxed transition (cet), secondary
columnar structure, solidification parameters

INTRODUCTION ratio (ECR) in as-cast slab[4-7].

There were several ways to increase ECR in 400 type STS,
Recently, market demand of austenitic stainless steel has for example, making the preferred condition for equia-
been in stagnation due to higher Ni price in contrast to xed growth by increasing constitutional undercooling or
higher market demand of cheaper ferritic stainless steel by increasing heterogeneous nucleation sites. This study
with superior anti-stress-corrosion property. However, focused on the solidification parameters to control the
ferritic stainless steel is inferior to austenitic stainless microstructure of as-cast slab for increasing ECR. Typi-
steel in anti-corrosion and forming properties, so many cal macro-structure of as-cast slab of 16%Cr stainless steel
engineering attempts are focused on developing new fer- exhibited in the order of ‘columnar-equiaxed-secondary
ritic stainless steel and production technique, and impro- columnar-equiaxed’ after surface chill layer as shown in
ving material quality. Fig. 1. In particular, reappearance of columnar structure
In particular, ridging defect has been typical problem (C2) shown among equiaxed regions is problem, because
in forming process of ferritic stainless steel and it is the
surface defect resulting from the plastic anisotropic dif-
ference between recrystallized and non- recrystallized
structure[1,2], which is originated from the non-uniform
microstructure made in continuous casting process[3].
Recent efforts have focused to increase equiaxed crystal
ratio by restraining columnar grains based on the rese-
arch, showing that anti-ridging properties showed signi-
ficant improvement at about 40% of the equiaxed crystal

s
J.C. Kim , J.J. Kim, J.Y. Choi, J.H.Choi, S.K. Kim Fig. 1
POSCO, Korea
Typical macrostructure obtained in slab section
Paper presented at the European Conference Continuous Casting of of 16Cr stainless steel.
steel, Riccione, 3-6 June 2008 Macrostruttura tipica ottenuta nella sezione di bramma
di acciaio inossidabile 16Cr.

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Slab Thickness Superheat Casting Speed 2nd cooling EMS Intensity

intensity Upper Lower
200~220 mm 15~50 0.7~1.0 m/min 0.5~1.5 l/kg 0~1300A 1300 A
s
Tab. 1
Experimental conditions for continuous casting of 16Cr stainless steel.
Condizioni sprimentali per la colata continua dell’acciaio inossidabile 16Cr.

the secondary columnar structure provokes non-unifor- mined. Evaluation of equiaxed crystal ratio is defined in
mity of macro-structure, contributing the ridging defect Eq. (1) as the ratio of equiaxed zone to total thickness of
somewhat. Thus, it is necessary to identify the forming slab. The symbols in equation 1 are noted in Fig. 1. The
condition of secondary columnar structure and find out variation of ECR is defined as ECR index based on the
the solution to prevent them from generating. averaged value of ECR without EMS at the casting speed
In addition, electromagnetic stirring (EMS) technology of 0.9m/min.
has been applied to ensure not only homogenous macro-
structure, but equiaxed grain structure[8]. The main role
of EMS is to redistribute heat and solute in the molten (1)
steel by inducing forced convection and it results to give
significant influence on the formation of equiaxed crystal. RESULTS
Moreover, the optimum function of EMS comes from har-
mony with casting conditions. Therefore, we investigated Effect of superheat
the correlation between EMS and solidification condition, Fig. 2 shows the variation of ECR as the degree of su-
and found out the optimum condition for maximizing perheat. The increase of superheat resulted to decrease
ECR considering CET condition. ECR. However, it was shown that superheat effect beca-
me weak as EMS was applied.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Effect of casting speed
The conditions of continuous casting and EMS of 16Cr The effect of casting speed to ECR was similar to the cases
stainless steel are shown in Tab. 1. In this study, two parts with/without the EMS application. As the casting speed
of EMS were applied, upper part to control solidification increase from 0.8m/min to 0.9m/min in Fig. 3, ECR was
condition at the early stage of solidification and lower decreased by 5% in average.
part for the control at midterm stage.
Each part of EMS was controlled independently and the Effect of EMS pattern
effect of the pattern of EMS was investigated, which is The effect of EMS pattern was examined by changing the
the combination of EMS power at upper and lower part, power intensity of upper and lower electromagnetic stir-
on CET condition. After continuous casting, slab samples rer independently. Fig. 4 shows that higher ECR existed
were cut at the location of 1/4 and 1/2 of the slab width at the condition of low or no power of upper electroma-
in the thickness direction, and macro structure are exa- gnetic stirrer, in contrast to lower ECR at strong power at

s s
Fig. 2 Fig. 3
Effect of superheat in Tundish on ECR. Effect of casting speed on ECR.
Effetto del surriscaldamento nella paniera. Effetto della velocità di colata sull’ ECR.

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s
Fig. 5
s Effect of secondary cooling intensity on ECR.
Fig. 4 Effetto dell’ intensità di raffreddamento secondario sull’ ECR.
Effect of EMS pattern and intensity on ECR.
Effetto di schema e intensità dell’EMS sull’ ECR.

both electromagnetic stirrers when the lower electroma-

gnetic stirrer was applied same power for both cases. In
addition, the combination of high power at upper electro-
magnetic stirrer and low power at lower one gave lower
ECR.

Effect of secondary cooling intensity

ECR increased by 20% when the secondary cooling con-
dition was changed from soft to strong cooling condition
(Fig. 5). The previous study showed that there was no si-
gnificant change of ECR at strong cooling condition [5],
but this work showed obvious effect of the secondary co-
oling condition. This result may originate from the strong
relation between CET and secondary cooling condition.

DISCUSSION

Forming mechanism of secondary columnar struc-

ture
Many theories were reported for the transition from co-
lumnar to equiaxed structure, and also there have been
many researches for the prediction of microstructure ba-
sed on constitutional undercooling theory [9], which was
referred to this analysis. Growing columnar grains captu-
s
re or push equiaxed grains and continuously grow when
the number of generated equiaxed grains was small, but Fig. 6
they will be suppressed by equiaxed grains occupying re- Change of growth condition during casting (a)
mained liquid phase when the volume of equiaxed grains without EMS (b) with EMS.
is larger than the specific value to the liquid phase vo- Cambiamento delle condizioni di crescita durante la colata
lume. J.D. Hunt suggested the transition condition from (a) senza EMS (B) con EMS.
columnar to equiaxed structure as CET model [10], and
the condition is defined as below, is the undercooling for nucleation. With the assumption
of is much smaller than , the Eq. (2) can be simplified as
below[6], and it can be expressed by measurable parame-
(2) ters, i.e. temperature gradient and growth rate.

where, G is the temperature gradient at the dendrite tip,

N0 is the nucleation density of delta ferrite (mm-3), is (3)
the constitutional undercooling at the dendrite tip, and

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gradient and increase of growth rate were observed in

the region of EMS applying, and higher temperature gra-
dient and decrease of growth rate were observed outside
of EMS field.
The variation of G/V1/2 with solid fraction was calcu-
lated by applying temperature gradient and growth rate
variation to Eq.(3). The area with stable columnar structu-
re exists in the case of higher G/V1/2 than critical value,
and equiaxed growth is more stable when the value of
G/V1/2 is lower than critical value. The critical value of
CET is a criterion to define stable equiaxed region, and
0.3 is acquired in this study by comparing calculated G/
V1/2 with real macrostructure of as-cast slab. The obtai-
ned value in this study is similar to the results of other
researchers [6].
Without applying EMS, grains grew as columnar structu-
re until the last stage of solidification (fs=0.9), thereafter
s CET occurred as shown in Fig. 7. On the other hand, CET
Fig. 7 occurred after fs=0.3 with EMS, and transition to colum-
Effect of EMS on G/V1/2 with solid fraction.
nar structure occurred again at fs=0.55 with good agre-
Effetto dell’EMS su G/V1/2 con frazione solida.
ement with observed value from real macrostructure of
as-cast slab at both cases.
From the results, it can be explained why secondary co-
lumnar structure generates, as follows. Strong convec-
tion occurs in the region of EMS application, resulting to
lower temperature gradient at the growing interface. It
brings steep decrease of G/V1/2 value, which gives the
condition for equiaxed grain generation and CET occurs.
However, temperature gradient and growth rate at the
S/L interface will be recovered when the melt leaves the
EMS field; accordingly secondary columnar structure de-
velops again due to the change of growth condition.

Effect of casting condition on CET

In order to increase ECR, two concepts were applied in
this study. One is to suppress the generation of secondary
columnar structure and the other is to make the condition
of the equiaxed crystal generation at early stage of soli-
dification. Based on this model, it was able to predict the

s
Fig. 8
Effect of superheat on G/V 1/2 with solid fraction.
Effetto di superheat su G/V1/2 in relazione alla frazione
solida.

where, V is the growth rate at the dendrite tip, D is the

diffusivity of molten steel, C0 is the initial concentration
of liquid phase, k is the effective distribution coefficient,
and Γ is the Gibbs-Thomson constant.
To predict CET condition based on Eq.(3) in actual con-
tinuous casting process, it is necessary to predict tem-
perature gradient and growth rate. In this study, one-
dimensional heat transfer simulation was carried out in
continuous casting process, and it was enabled to predict
temperature gradient and solidification speed at the spe-
cific location.
Fig. 6 shows temperature gradient and growth rate at s
the given point with and without EMS application. Tem- Fig. 9
perature gradient without EMS is about 5℃/mm at Effect of casting speed on G/V 1/2 with solid
the early stage of solidification, and becomes smaller as fraction.
the solidification proceeds (Fig. 6a). In the case of EMS Effetto della velocità di colata su G/V1/2 con frazione
application(Fig. 6b), steep drop to smaller temperature solida.

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macrostructure of as-cast slab from calculated results and oling condition. In the condition of 0.9m/min growth rate
these were compared with experimental one. and soft cooling condition, early generation of secondary
columnar grains was observed with broader area.
Effect of superheating Increase of cooling intensity at the same growth condition
Fig. 8 shows the variation of G/V1/2 as superheat. With delayed generation of secondary columnar grain and it
higher degree of superheat, the G/V1/2 value has larger can be explained from Fig. 11.
one in the initial solidification, but the superheat effect Temperature distribution of liquid phase describes a po-
becomes weak as the solid fraction increases. The area of lynomial decay of G/V1/2 as the increase of solid fraction
secondary columnar structure generation becomes nar- as shown in Fig. 11. With applying EMS, temperature di-
row as superheat decreased even though the effect is not stribution becomes uniform by forced convection in EMS
significant. It corresponds with the results that the effect field resulting to lower temperature gradient; thereafter
of superheat on the variation of CET is not dominant with temperature decreased steeply again when the melt got
EMS application. out of EMS field and columnar growth is to be preferred
due to the increase of temperature gradient.
The effect of casting speed In this condition, increase of cooling rate at the same EMS
As shown in the experimental results, it was obvious pattern brings overall decrease of melt temperature; in
that the effect of casting speed was significant to CET particular, temperature gradient at the outside of EMS
condition. With increase of casting speed, the growth of field will be smaller by having rather low melt tempera-
columnar dendrite in the early stage of solidification is ture. As a result, the generation of secondary columnar
suppressed due to increase of heat transfer to the mold, grains can be delayed; moreover lowering casting speed
resulting to have shorter primary columnar grains with helps to suppress secondary columnar growth.
assumption of same CET condition. In the experimental results, the secondary columnar
However, the increase of casting speed enlarged the area growth was completely restrained by applying strong
of secondary columnar structure as shown in Fig. 9, which cooling intensity at 0.8m/min casting speed and sound
brings totally smaller ECR. It is estimated that the critical slabs having higher ECR over 60% were able to obtain.
casting speed for free-secondary columnar structure is Briefly, to suppress the secondary columnar grains com-
0.8m/min at given conditions. pletely, it is proposed to optimize secondary cooling con-
Fig. 10 shows the forming range of secondary columnar dition in the V, VI region, in which secondary columnar
structure with superheat at tundish. The secondary co- grain used to generate as shown in Fig. 11.
lumnar structure existed between 0.6~0.9 for solid frac-
tion, which correspond with the value of 65~90mm of CONCLUSION
observed sample, improving the reliability of calculated
results. Hence, decrease of ECR with increasing casting In this study, parametric study was performed such as
speed is originated from the expansion of secondary co- EMS, casting condition, and secondary cooling to increa-
lumnar region, so it is required to decrease temperature se equiaxed crystal ratio of as-cast slab in ferritic stainless
gradient for restrain of columnar growth. steel, and the following conclusion was derived.
The secondary columnar grains, decreasing equiaxed
Effect of secondary cooling condition crystal ratio, was observed in the area of absence of EMS
Fig. 11 shows the variation of G/V1/2 with secondary co- stirring(6~10m from the meniscus), in which the growth

s s
Fig. 10 Fig. 11
Forming range of secondary columnar FEffect of secondary cooling intensity on G/V1/2
structure. with solid fraction.
Range di formazione della struttura colonnare secondaria Effetto dell’intensità di raffreddamento secondario su G/V1/2
structure. in relazione alla frazione solida.

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condition of dendrite transits from equiaxed to columnar REFERENCES

manner as increasing temperature gradient and decrea-
sing growth rate, resulting to the generation of secondary 1] H. C. Chao, Trans. ASM, 60 (1967), p 37.
columnar structure. 2] R. N. Wright, Met. Trans., 3 (1972), p 83.
With EMS application, effect of superheat on CET condi- 3] N. Hirata, H.Ota, Y. Kato, T.Ujoro and O. Furukimi, Tet-
tion is no longer significant. On the other hand, decrease su-to-Hagane, 89 (2003), p 855.
of casting speed effectively restrained the generation of 4] Y. Itoh, S. Takao, T. Okajima and K. Tashiro, Tetsu-to-Ha-
secondary columnar grains having a tendency increase gane, 6 (1980), p 110.
the equiaxed crystal ratio. In addition, strong secondary 5] M. Okimori, M. Tsuchida and K. Inaoka, Tetsu-to-Haga-
cooling was another way to increase equiaxed crystal ra- ne, 80 (1994), T 25.
tio, enabling to suppress columnar grains completely at 6] H. Shibata, S. Itoyama, Y. Kishimoto, S. Takeuchi and H.
0.8 m/min casting speed. For the EMS pattern effect, it is Sekiguchi, ISIJ Int., 46 (2006), p 921.
observed that secondary columnar grains were promoted 7] J. Hutt, D. StJohn, Int. J. Cast Metals Res., 11 (1998), p 13.
with application of high power of upper electromagnetic 8] M.H. Burden and J.D. Hunt, Metall. Trans. A, 6A (1975),
stirrer due to increase of melt temperature by flow pat- p 240.
tern and the optimum combination of EMS pattern for 9] W.C. Winegard, B. Chalmers, Trans. ASM, 46 (1954), p
higher equiaxed crystal ratio is low power of upper elec- 1214.
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ABSTRACT
CONTROLLO DELLA TRANSIZIONE COLONNARE- effettuata una analisi del trasferimento di calore monodimensionale del
EQUIASSICO NELLA COLATA CONTINUA metallo fuso, e una previsione della condizione CET secondo il modello di
DELL’ACCIAIO INOSSIDABILE 16% CR Hunt. Si è osservato che i grani colonnari secondari - solitamente presenti
in ragione di una frazione tra 0,5 e 0,8 - e la loro formazione sono il risul-
Parole chiave: acciaio, colata continua, solidificazione tato di un brusco aumento del valore  G/V1/2 al momento dell’uscita del
metallo fuso dal campo EMS; tuttavia l’aumento del valore G/V1/2 è stato
Nella colata continua dell’ acciaio inossidabile ferritico 16% Cr, gli inde- prontamente messo sotto controllo cambiando la configurazione dell’EMS
siderabili grani colonnari che si formano tra i grani equiassici rendono la e aumentando l’ intensità di raffreddamento secondario. In conclusione,
microstruttura non uniforme e compromettono le proprietà di “ridging”. i grani colonnari secondari sono stati eliminati ottimizzando l’intensità
Poiché questo fenomeno deriva dal cambiamento delle condizioni di soli- superiore e inferiore di EMS e aumentando l’intensità di raffreddamento
dificazione durante la colata continua, si è concentrata l’attenzione sulla secondario. Si è inoltre investigato l’ effetto dei parametri di solidificazio-
Transizione Cellulare-Equiassico (CET) nella colata continua dell’ accia- ne inclusi il surriscaldamento e velocità di colata in termini di transizione
io inossidabile ferritico 16% Cr per controllare la microstruttura della CET nel processo di colata continua, e i risultati sono stati anche discussi
bramma “as-cast”. Per trovare la condizione CET, nello studio è stata in termini di condizione termica di colata.

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