VISCOELASTIC--PLASTIC ANALYSIS OF BROADENING OF SLAB IN THE SECONDARY COOLING ZONE OF CONTINUOUS CASTING

The 3D viscoelastic-plastic thermal-mechanically coupled finite element model was established by a commercial software MSC.Marc on the basis of secondary development, and used to simulate the situation of slab's broadening in the secondary cooling zone. The results showed that the slab's broadening mainly emerged in the former segments of the secondary cooling zone, and the broadening rate has a gradually increasing trend from the first segment to the sixth segment. The broadening of slab has a close relationship with bulging along the thickness direction. The results simulated by using viscoelastic-plastic model revealed that the law of the slab's broadening is excellent agreement with the actual deformation. The broadening of slab is the result of viscoelastic-plastic deformation of the slab shell under the pressure of core of molten steel.