Int. J. Mach.Tools Manufact. Vol.29, No. 1, pp.121-140.1989. 11890-6955/8953.00 + .

00
Printed in Great Britain Pergamon Press plc

STRESS ANALYSIS IN SOLIDIFICATION PROCESSES:

APPLICATION TO CONTINUOUS CASTING

T. C. TSZEN6* and S. KOBAYASlJI*

(Received 18 March 1988)

Abstract~alculations of thermal stresses in solidifying materials have been carried out using thermal-elasto-
plastic finite element method. The temperature history in the process of solidification was calculated first by
the temperature recovery method and then transferred to the MARC code for the stress analysis. The scheme
was applied to a complete analysisof continuous casting of low carbon steel. According to the two-dimensional
model, the predicted depth of the liquid pool showed good agreement with experimental measurement. The
analysis results were compiled into temperature history, shell thickness, stress history, principal stress
distributions, residual stresses and deformation.

INTRODUCTION

THEORETICAL a~';well as practical importance has stimulated much interest in the math-
ematical modeling of the thermomechanical response of engineering materials under-
going severe thermal loads [t-4]. When a phase transformation or phase change is
considered, the problem becomes even more complicatd and difficult [5, 6]. Aside from
the transient temperature field which generally induces stress in the solid medium, the
change of phase itself is accompanied by a change in thermomechanical properties and,
in most cases, the properties of the particular material under consideration may not
have been fully explored in the high temperature range near transformation or melting
temperature. This is one of the major factors which prevents the mathematical modeling
from faithfully describing the material response in the real world.
Analytical formulation of the thermal stress in a solidifying body has been proposed
by Tien and K a u m p [7] and Weiner and Boley [8]. A perturbation method was also
used by Rubirisky [9] in the calculation based on elastic deformation. Due to the
inherent complexity of this kind of problem, the analyses were unfortunately severely
restricted in th,~ engineering applications. In this study, the finite element formulation
was used in the', calculation of the stress field developing in the solid region of material
undergoing solidification. Since the thermal model is assumed to be decoupled from
the mechanical system, the temperature field is calculated first and imposed as a thermal
load on the mechanical system. Whereas the thermo-elasto-plastic stress analysis was
carried out by using the finite-element based M A R C code, the temperature history in
the material was calculated by the scheme described in [16]. For completeness, this
account gives a very brief description of the theory behind the M A R C code, although
most of it can be found in M A R C User's Manual Volume F.
As a verification of the mathematical modeling, the stress field in a one-dimensional
solidification is calculated and compared with that of Weiner and Boley [8]. A complete
analysis of the solidification and stress field in continuous casting of low carbon steel
is presented.

TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT PLASTICITY AND FINITE ELEMENT PROCEDURE

There are two essential assumptions from which the theory of plasticity is able to
describe material behavior beyond the linear elastic range [10]. The first is the yield

*Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.

121
122 T.C. TSZENGand S. KOBAYASHI

criterion which determines whether a given state falls within the elastic regime or
whether plastic deformation occurs. The second assumption is the f l o w rule which
relates the increment of plastic strain to the current stress state. Although the form of
yield criterion and flow rule vary according to different materials, these two assumptions
allow us to formulate the elasto-plastic constitutive relationship.
We will present a material model which includes the thermoelasticity and thermoplas-
ticity of all temperature dependent material properties. Small strain theory is adopted
and von Mises yield function with isotropic hardening is assumed. A basic assumption
regarding the strain tensor in small strain theory is that the total strain eij can be
decomposed in the following way
_,, (1)
where e~ is the elastic strain, e~ the plastic strain and e rh the thermal strain. The
constitutive law for isotropic linear elasticity is
(rii = Ci~k~kl (2)
and it is known that

e l " = 13,jO (3)

where Cijkl and 130 are the elastic and thermoelastic moduli, respectively. O = T - To,
where To is the reference temperature at which the thermal strain vanishes.
The plastic strain rate is calculated using the classical theory of time-independent
plasticity. First, the yon Mises yield condition for isotropic hardening can be written as

1 , , 1 6"2 = 0 (4)
F = 2 crifrii -

where the yield function F is a function of current stress state and equivalent yield
stress. Or
F = F(chj,cf). (5)
In these equations,
(~ = equivalent yield stress
= e(e',T)
~P = accumulated equivalent plastic strain
z

f '~ dt
)

~P = equivalent plastic strain rate

2 .~l.~:-p~,l/2
= (3 •

The yield stress is considered as a function of both equivalent plastic strain and
temperature. For nonisothermal plasticity, it is assumed that the yield function F defines
a convex yield surface in stress-temperature space and that the normality condition
remains valid. The associated flow rule then gives the incremental plastic strain as

OF
d~'j = h &hi h(hj (6)

where h is a non-negative proportional factor which will be determined as follows. The

consistency condition states that the stress-temperature state remains on the yield
surface in plastic loading process, i.e.

je = 0. (7)
After some manipulation, we can obtain the proportion factor h as
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 123

2 06.
%% - ~ e ~T
k= 4 42 __al~ (8)
9 a~p
Taking the time derivative of equation (2) and using equations (1) and (6), we obtain
OC~jkl .
dr,: = C,:kt",4k, -- 4~' -- kCr~,) + --OT- e~,T. (9)

Using equation (3), equation (8) and premultiplying equation (9) by cr~j leads to the
important expression

0.~ • r __
2 04 __ t "
+ (b,,,:,,q 4or
X= 4 _204 (10)
9 (T~ -}- Cpqrs(T;,qOdrs

where

b,., _ aC,,q,s
-- O~ ~- ~r{~,, O-rs = ~rs nk
aa~
T.

Substituting equation (10) into equation (9) gives the stress-rate in plastic loading
process as
drij = Lqkl~!k! + h o t (11)
where

Lqkt = ~t],tllgt' ---- Cijk I -- CijPqff ;~q(~rsCr~kl

d (12)

, , 2 34 ,
C, jk,,T k,( % , , b ,,,, -- ~4O T - %qG,,,., o,,.,)
h q = hit' = b i j - C i j k t o t k l -- d (13)

4 _,04
d = ~cr'-~p + Cp,m,(r],q(r'.~. (14)

This allows the calculation of stress increments for a given increment of total strain for
elasto-plastic loading condition.
When the plastic strain is absent, i.e. purely elastic response, the matrices Lqkt and
h a become

Lijkl = Lf'i,~t = Cokl (15)

hq = h i. = bq - Cqk~kl. (16)
In equations (12)-(16), the superscripts "'ep'" and "e" distinguish the situations of
elasto-plastic and elastic response, respectively. Based on equations (11)-(16), we are
able to formulate the incremental finite element procedure to solve the thermo-elasto-
plastic response.
Among the various solution schemes to the elasto-plastic deformation are the initial
strain, the initial stress methods and some other variations (see the review in Chapter
18 of [11]). The MARC code uses the initial strain scheme combined with the tangent
stiffness method for plane stress analysis, and the mid-increment (or mean) stiffness
method for all other elasto-plastic analysis. Further, residual load correction is used to
prevent error build-up from increment to increment.
In the incremental variational principle presented by Washizu [12], it is assumed that
124 T.C. TSZENGand S. KOBAYASHI

the current state is incrementally close to the reference state which is already known.
The reference state may be regarded as the initial stressed state for determining the
current state. The virtual work principle for the current state gives, in vector form,

fv(Oo+A~)~(A,)dV - fv(fO+Af)~(Au)dV- fs.r(TO+ AT)~(Au)dS= O (17)

where f and T denote the body force and surface traction, respectively, u is the vector
of nodal displacement. Subscript 0 denotes the reference state. On rewriting the elasto-
plastic constitutive equation (11)
A~ = LA¢ + hAT, (18)
equation (17) becomes

If it is assumed that in the initial state, oo, fo and To are in equilibrium prior to applying
the load for the current increment, the last three integrals in equation (19) vanish.
However, due to the numerical incremental solution technique, the initial state may
not be in equilibrium. Actually these integrals are related to the residual load
which
provides a tool to correct the equilibrium at the start of each increment. Now if we
simply drop these integrals temporarily and follow the finite element procedure with
m isoparametric elements, we shall arrive at the equations of nodal displacement
increments Au
KAu = AR rh + AR M (20)
where
K ='='~ fv,.BrLBdV (21)

ARrh = - i=t~ fv, hBATdV (22)

ARM = ~'~ NAfdV + NATdS (23)

j= I ~)

and K = elasto-plastic stiffness m a t r i x , A R Th = i n c r e m e n t o f n o d a l t h e r m a l l o a d , A R M

= increment of nodal mechanical load. In these expressions, B is defined by
= BTu, (24)
in the element level. N is the shape function. Note that, for the sake of convenience,
we do n o t make a symbolic distinction between the vectors of nodal displacement and
the continuous displacement field. No confusion should be made in this respect. There-
fore, for a given load with a temperature change AT, equation (20) allows us to solve
the increment of nodal displacements [15].

SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR LIQUID REGIONS

Since the deformation of both liquid and solid regions is considered as a whole in
our stress analysis, a special procedure is used to handle the liquid region. In the
analysis of the early stage of continuous casting, Kristiansson [13] assigned zero stiffness
to those integrating points whose temperature is above the coherence temperature and
prescribed zero displacement to the corresponding nodal points. While the mechanical
volumetric strain should be zero, it is expected that the thermal volumetric strain still
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 125

appears. According to this method, however, the compressibility of melt material is

completely prohibited and hydrostatic pressure acting along the phase front may not
be well accounted for. Therefore, in our analysis, a different procedure is followed.
First, the Poisson's ratio very close to 0.5 is artificially assigned for the temperature
above liquidus temperature, TL. This makes the liquid phase close to being incompress-
ible for mechanical loading. In order to avoid singularity in forming the stiffness matrix,
the Young's modulus is set to a very small number, instead of exactly zero, for the
temperature above TL. The values of the Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus are set
such that the bulk modulus in the liquid region is kept approximately equal to that of
the room temperature [14].
It is hoped t!hat the stress state in the liquid region is as close to the hydrostatic state
as possible. Tiffs should exclude the onset of plastic deformation which must never
appear in the fiquid region. It can be shown that for a linear elastic solid,

crij = (r b + p~q (25)

where

~b = 2Ge~ (26)
p = hey - 13(T- To) (27)
E Ev Eo~
G - 2 ( ~ - ~ ' h - ( l + v ) ( 1 - Z v ) ' 13 - 3(1-2v)"

Therefore, when the Poisson's ratio v is set close to 0.5 and Young's modulus is a very
small number, the deviatoric stress tr~j can be suppressed whilst keeping the hydrostatic
pressure finite

STRESS A N A L Y S I S O F O N E - D I M E N S I O N A L S O L I D I F I C A T I O N

The above proposed scheme is checked against the analytical solution of one-dimen-
sional solidification by Weiner and Boley [8], though there is a difference in assumption.
In their analysis, the same strain is assumed in the y- and z-directions and the strain
in the x-direction is assumed to vanish. Our analysis assumed the plane strain condition
in the x-y plane, and the boundary y -- 1 maintains horizontal (Fig. 1). It was assumed
that the boundaries are thermally insulated, except for x = 0. Initially, the slab is at
liquidus tempeJ:ature 1525°C. At time t = 0, the temperature of surface x = 0 is brought
to T 1 = 1300°C and kept unchanged thereafter.

1.0

)/0.0
0.0 2.'0
Im
4.0
X-AXIS (in.)
6.0 8.0

Fic. 1. Mesh system for the thermal and stress analysis of one-dimensional solidification.

The material properties are shown as follows: c = 700 J ( k g K ) - l , k = 33 W(mK) -1,

L = 272kJ(Kg) -~, tx = 20 x 10-61/K, E = 4 0 G P a , v = 0.35, g v at T~ = 2 0 M P a ,
TL = 1525°C, Ts = 1468°C.
It is also assumed that the yield stress ~ r decreases linearly from its value at T~ to
a very small value at Ts.
14TM 29:1-1
126 T . C . TSZENG and S. KOBAYASHI

In the calculation, the temperature history is first predicted using the FEM program
which incorporates the temperature recovery method discussed in [16]. Figure 1 shows
the mesh system which consists of 40 planar bilinear quadrilateral elements. The
calculated temperature distribution at several stages along the direction of the slab is
shown in Fig. 2. The temperature distribution becomes almost uniform and very close
to the surface temperature at time t -- 20 s. The stresses are expected to become steady
at this stage.

1600"

~ 1500,

L.~.11400

~1300
TIME 1: 0.,.~04 2: 1.004$
I.aJ 12.717
I-- 7; ~S.t04 1:20.000

1200 ......... , ......... , ......... , .........

0.0 2.0 4.0 e O a.O
DISTANCE FROM SURFACE ( rnrn )

FIG. 2. Temperature distribution along the longitudinal direction.

The same mesh system in Fig. 1, with four node quadrilateral plane strain elements,
was used in the stress analysis by the M A R C code. In order to be in agreement with
the infinitesimal theory, the temperature history was modified by interpolation in such
a way that the maximum temperature change per step along with the corresponding
thermal strain is limited within a small level at every integrating point in the plane. In
the process of stress analysis, the temperature field at every integrating point is read
into the program at the start of each step by using the C H A N G E STATE utility in the
M A R C program. A thermo-elasto-plastic stress analysis was carried out for each
increment.
The distributions of transverse stress Cryy, corresponding to the time step in Fig. 2,
are shown in Fig. 3. The distribution of stress at time t = 10 s is similar to that of
Weiner and Boley which corresponds to the earlier stage of the present model (see Fig.
4). Due to the assumed free boundary at x = 0, the longitudinal stress ~rxx in the solid
region is at least two orders smaller than the transverse stress. Figure 5 shows the
history of transverse stress O'yy at some selected points in the slab. The stress is observed
to become tensile shortly after the point solidifies. This occurs because of the internal
constraints associated with both the inner liquid region and the outer solid shell. Stress
on the outer surface is in tension in the early stage, becoming compressive later on.
The final residual stresses appear to be compressive on the outer surface and tensile in
the inner region. The same phenomena were also observed for the case of continuous
casting discussed in the next section. The stresses diminish in the liquid region, just as
we expected.

APPLICATION TO CONTINUOUS CASTING OF LOW CARBON STEEL

Steel is currently cast continuously in the form of square, rectangular or cylindrical
billets [17]. Taking into account the complexity of phase changes, boundary conditions
and temperature-dependent material properties involved in continuous casting, the
calculation of stresses reported in this paper illustrates a typical calculation procedure
for the thermally induced stresses in manufacturing.
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 127

2.0E+007

1.0E+O07 2

O
1~" O.OE+O00

I
~ - 1.0E÷O07
~J
p-
C,') ::U/l/ / / 3: 2Jk55 4: 5.0Q3.
-2.0E+007 -]///// 5: 9,g27 6:12.717

-3.0E+007
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
DISTANCE FROM SURFACE ( m m )

I(~ FIG. 3. Distribution of transverse stress along the longitudinal direction.

2.0E+007

1.0E+007

0
O_ O.OE+O00

>-
I
U')-I.0E+O07

¢Y
p-

-2.0E+007'

-3.0E+007 ........ , ......... , ......... , .........

0.0 2.0 4..0 6.0 8.0
DISTANCE FROM SURFACE ( mm)

t06 FZG. 4. A comparison between predicted and analytical distribution of transverse stress at t = 10 s.

2,0E+007
l/4 E_L_C_~
J_ 40
1.0r÷O07 ~....... ~ ~ , ~

0
n

3-
I
- I.OE+O07
4-,'
CO
-2.0E+007 '

-3.0E+007 ......... , ......... , ......... , .........

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
Time ( s )

1(18 FIG. 5. History of transverse stress at x = 1 in.

128 T.C. TSZENGand S. KOBAYASHI

Information about deformation, stress and strain in solid shells is quite important in
terms of the cast quality. Actually, cracks and other defects have long been a problem
in continuous casting. Several studies into the formation of these defects were conducted
[18-21]. As far as cracking is concerned, hot tearing seems to be one of the major
mechanisms in which the materials (including steel, aluminium, tin, zinc, etc.) experi-
ence cracking in a brittle manner at a temperature near the melting point. Cold cracking
and surface cracking can also appear in the cooling process of the solidification. A
deformation and stress analysis certainly provides a qualitative basis on which the
possibility of defect occurrence can be evaluated. Therefore, the deformation and stress
analysis will be of benefit in minimizing the risk of these types of cracks. In view of
this, theoretical studies based on some kind of numerical model have been undertaken
to examine both the thermal and mechanical aspects of the continuous casting, although
mainly for the early stage [22-27] (see also the review in [17, 28]).
In this section, a complete analysis of heat transfer and stress field in continuous
casting of a 0.3% carbon steel is presented. The casting process of the same steel has
been examined experimentally by Lait et al. [18], who measured the flow pattern in
the liquid pool, the development of the solid shell and the cast structure. A one-
dimensional finite difference calculation was carried out to determine the shell profile
and surface temperature. This turns out to be one of the limited experimental results
for the solidification process. In the present analysis, the similar process has been
considered. First, the heat transfer in the solidifying strand is calculated based on the
previously tested finite element program discussed in [16]. The calculated temperature
history at every point (integrating points) is then applied, incrementally, as the thermal
load to the stress analysis.

Process description and modeling

A schematic diagram of continuous casting is given in Fig. 6 [18]. The total distance
from the meniscus level to the tangent roll in the straightener is 16.7 m, with an
additional 15.8 m to the torch cut-off units. The cooling of the strand proceeds in
several regions, i.e. mold cooling, spray cooling and radiant cooling. The length of
each region is given in [18], along with estimated heat transfer coefficients which will
be discussed later. According to Lait et al. [18], the cross-section of the bloom in test
no. 4 measured 22.9 × 26.7 cmL However, a square cross-section which measured
24.8 × 24.8 cm 2 was analyzed in this study. The molds are of plate construction,
comprised of 3.8 cm copper plates, with a 0.317 cm corner radius and a 0.152 cm
taper (approximately 0.89% m-l). A withdraw rate of 1.69 cm s -~ for the strand is
considered.
A two-dimensional slice of the strand is studied as it moves downwards through the
mold, spray and radiant cooling regions. As far as the thermal system is concerned,
the validity of this two-dimensional approximation depends upon the heat conductivity
of cast material and the withdraw rate. For instance, non-ferrous materials such as
aluminium and copper maintain relatively higher conductivity than ferrous metals. In
addition, the withdraw rate for the non-ferrous metals is lower. These two factors
together make the longitudinal heat flow for non-ferrous metals comparable to the in-
plane heat flow; hence it becomes necessary to question the validity of this two-
dimensional approximation. For our analysis of cast steel, it is sufficient to employ a
two-dimensional modeling and neglect the longitudinal heat flow. This point has been
verified in the preliminary heat transfer calculation.
The boundary condition of the thermal system is changing when the slice moves
through the cooling regions. In the analysis, a time scale is used and measured by
t = d/v
where d and v are the distance below the meniscus and the withdraw rate, respectively.
Therefore, the thermal boundary condition imposed on the slice is changing with time
in accordance with the relative position of the slice and the different cooling region
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 129

Meniscus
Watercooled copper mould
Solidified steel shell
Vertical oscillation
Mushy zone
LI ! Studied slice of strand

Support rolls

Water sprays

Withdrawal rate v

ay cooling

lar~ cooling

FIG. 6. A schematic diagram showing the main cooling region of continuous casting.

along the axis of the strand. One more complication arises from the difficulty in
characterization of the metal-mold interface which generally exists in the state of (1)
a conforming contact, (2) a nonconforming contact and (3) a clearance gap [31].
Different hea~ transfer mechanisms would be involved accordingly [28-31]. Ha and
Pehlke [31] found that the solidification time is highly sensitive to the mold-metal
interfacial thermal conductance in the case of static mold casting. Furthermore, accord-
ing to the experimental observations [28] for continuous casting, an intermittent contact
exists between the metal shell and mold. Because of this kind of nonlinear coupling
through the boundary condition, an iteration procedure for thermal and mechanical
analysis is needed in order to fully describe the heat transfer mechanism involved. For
the continuous casting, even the strand stays in the mold only for the first 40 s, some
defects such as the hot shear might have been initiated within the mold. Nevertheless,
we do not intend to investigate the mechanism at the mold-metal interface; instead,
an equivalent heat transfer coefficient at the shell's outer surface obtained by Lair et
al. [18] is used in this study.
For the mechanical system, the plane strain condition is applied to the deformation.
It is known that the plane strain condition is valid only when the temperature gradient
is small in the longitudinal direction. It should be noted that the longitudinal deformation
could be taken into account by relaxing the plane strain requirement. This approach,
called generalized plane strain, is available in MARC code. For the time being, however,
the constraints associated with plane strain are maintained in our study.
Creep straining will not be included in the analysis and only the thermo-elasto-plastic
constitutive equations are used in the stress analysis. It is also noted that the accumulated
plastic strain can be reduced by annealing processes, whose effects are significant at
temperatures above the recrystallization temperature. Friedman [14] used a simple
expression to reduce the previously accumulated plastic strain. We will not consider
the recrystallization-induced relief of plastic strain in the present study.

Material properties
It is understood that the material properties should be accurate enough in order to
obtain meaningful results from either thermal [32] or mechanical analysis. Unfortunately
130 T . C . TSZEN6 and S. KOBAVASm

the thermal as well as mechanical properties for the temperature in the range near
melting point are not fully investigated for most materials.
For the 0.3% carbon steel which we are considering, the thermal properties are
basically as used by Lait et al. [18], except for some modification. The thermal conduc-
tivity of molten metal above the liquidus temperature has been taken to be about half
that of the solid metal at its melting temperature. This is based on the general behavior
of the liquid and solid phase for those materials whose melting temperatures are not
too high. Therefore, the thermal conductivity for the 0.3% steel is given in Fig. 7a.
The density and specific heat are assumed independent of the temperature and are the
same for both liquid and solid phases. Hence, the thermal properties can be tabulated
as follows
Specific heat [kcal(kg°C)- 1] 0.13
Latent heat (kcal kg -~) 65
Density (kg m -3) 7400
Solidus temperature (°C) 1470
Liquidus temperature (°C) 1510.
The mechanical properties below the melting temperature for this steel are given by
Grill et al. [22]. Since the yield strength and Young's modulus are negligible at tempera-
tures above the melting point, these values are assumed to decrease linearly from their
respective values at the solidus temperature to small values at liquidus temperature and
stay unchanged for higher temperature. Figures 7b-e respectively give the temperature
dependence of Young's modulus, the yield strength, the thermal expansion coefficient
and the Poisson's ratio. No strain-hardening is considered in the analysis.

Heat transfer analysis

The solidifying slice of the strand is modeled as a conducting body, including both
the solid shell and liquid part. This means that the convection phenomena in the liquid
part have been neglected, though they have been studied in literature [33]. According
to [18], the equivalent heat transfer coefficient for each cooling region is shown in Fig.
8. The environmental temperature is specified as 25°C. For the radiant cooling region,
a radiation constant of 0.5 was assumed. This heat transfer coefficient is applied
uniformly along the outer surface of the cast. In fact, the formulation of an air gap
near the corner results in a drastic change in heat transfer at the cast surface. This will
be a topic for future research.
The already tested program is then used to calculate the temperature field in the
slice through the various cooling regions. Due to the symmetry of considered geometry
and uniform boundary conditions, only the third quarter of the slice is needed in the
analysis. Figure 9 shows the finite element mesh for temperature analysis, which consists
of 100 planar bilinear quadrilateral elements. The aforementioned heat convection and
radiation boundary conditions are specified along the axes x = 0 and y = 0. The sym-
metry axes x = 12.4 and y = 12.4 are prescribed as insulated. The same mesh system
will be used in the following stress analysis. Because of the exponential characteristic
of temperature history after the whole slice becomes completely solidified, the time
step used in the integration of the energy equation is enlarged in the process. The
computation time is cut while accuracy is retained.
The calculated temperature history at several selected points in the plane is shown
in Fig. 10. It turns out that the region close to the outer surface solidifies far more
rapidly than the inner region. Reheating at the region close to the outer surface is
observed at the transition from one cooling region to another, but is most pronounced
at the entrance of the radiant cooling region. This results from the inefficiency of
radiation cooling on the outer surface. The temperature difference in the plane dimin-
ishes after the whole plane solidified. Figures l l a - c show the temperature contours at
several typical time stages. Note that the isotherms of 1470°C correspond to the solid-
phase front. According to these figures, the contour lines are mostly parallel to the
outer surfaces in the early stage of the process. This reflects the dominant role of
surface cooling in these stages.
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 131

~00+0

E
0.001 i

:1,~ 0 0 0 6
4-' I
~j ooo+ J * K * a •

0002

~ooo¢ .... s6o .... ,o~x~.... ,~o

I-- Temperature (*C) Temperature (*C)

(a) (b)

UtdOlt •
$ E,,,IN

• ,*,ll411B
•
I

E
z

8
-~ &M-,Jm
/_---
c

~ i ,M . . N •
T-

e.el,~oo E
. . . . d, . . . . ~.a, . . . . ,~ . . . . ~ . . . . ~ . . . . ,.~,
Temperature (*C)
i- Temperature (°C)

(c) (d)
o.ql ° m

O.I.

.0 ~'
+.,

I
e- 0,.I,

~_ °~
$.1

Temperature (°C)

(e)
FiG, 7. Thermal and mechanical properties of 0.3% carbon steel; (a) thermal conductivity, (b) Young's
modulus, (c) yield stress, (d) thermal expansion coefficient, (e) Poisson ratio.

According to the deformation analysis shown later in this paper and general exper-
imental observations, an insulating air gap forms at the mold-shell interface, which
renders a lower cooling in the corner regions of the shell. As a result, the thickness of
the solid shell near the corner is generally smaller than its midface regions [17]. Due
to the uniform heat transfer coefficient we assumed along the shell surface, we are not
able to extract this phenomenon from the simulation. A satisfactory result can be
obtained by using a simplified distribution of the thermal transfer coefficient along the
shell surface 1124].
 132 T . C . TSZENC and S. KOBAYASHI

.le

I
|
• e5

i
I
251) see
I
75e
I I
1o~e 125e
II
DZSTANCE BF.LOW I'IF.HZSCU$ (; e . )

FIG. 8. Coefficient of heat convection at the outer surface of slice of strand.

ClO~OI
12.,I
tat*

0.0
X-AXlS (cm)

FIG, 9. Mesh system for both heat transfer and stress analysis of a slice of strand.

II.£U.t ~

I
r"~1200

W
n
'5
k-.

4o0
........ 1'~ ...... '2'0hi3....... ai~ ....... ~3bi3"' '
TIME (Sec)

FIG. 10. Temperature history at several points in the slice.

"~he developing thickness of the solid shell and two-phase zone along the symmetry
line has been shown in Fig. 12. It is seen that, due to the changing boundary conditions,
the progress of the solid phase front is not totally proportional to the square root of
time. The strand becomes totally solidified at about 880 s, which corresponds to a
distance of 1489 cm below the meniscus level. Therefore, the core of the strand remains
in a liquid state in the early radiant cooling region. According to [18], the measured
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 133

rr :--,-,--,--,- :--,-,--,-
I-~- 4.--.I- -- .I.--4.-- ~- -- 4.--4- -- 4.--.I- -- 4
I
Z
•
•
0000C
884
III I i I I I I I I I 1
3 = 967
I b I I I I I I I I I I 4 ; 1050
5 - 1130
I ~ I I I I I I I I I I 6 = 1220
I- ~-.- 4---@ -- -i.--4.--.I- -- "4.--4- -- @--4- ~ 4 7 = 1300
I b I I I I I # I I I I
I b I I I I I I I I I I 8 = 1390
9 = 1470
I~ I I I I I I I I I I
I-~-- .4.--4- -- -~--,i.-- 4- -- 4,--,I- -- -i- -- ~- ~ 4
III I I I I I I I I I I
I ~ I I I I I I l l I I

I I I I I i I I i I I
I I I I I I # ( I I I

I~ I I I I I i I I I t
I- [I.- 4.--.I- -- -I.--.I---4- -- -I.--4- -- 4.--4- -- 4
i I I I I i I I I I I
I I l l I I I l I I I

1 = $70"C

i[-I-I
I
!
I
--
-- [I.--.I,--
f

II
I
I
--
I
I
4.--
I

I
I
+- --
I
I
,i. - -
I

I
I
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.i. - - 4- - -
I

I
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I
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I
I

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I
I
I
I
. 4 - - - 4. - - .I
4

I
I
I
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S
6
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•
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s
682
795
907
1020
1130
1240
1360
-- --4"--4" -- "1"--4" -- "1---4- -- "1 9 • 1470
! I --II I I I I ,, I I I

I " ! I ~ I i I I I I I
I I I I I I I
--÷-- - 4- -- -t,-- -- 4- -- "1"-- - 4- -- 4
I I i I I I I I I
I I I I I I I

",~.~~.t.L.L.!
I I I I I

--g-~--di- . - 5 - + - - t - +4.- -5+--+ -

I I I I I I I

, tl. ' % ~. 'X,' t.' '

I I I I I I I

~ +--+~,- -,- -ql--+ - 1 ' ~ - - ~" - + --'---L=.~

I I I I I I I
:%. :\: , , ,

I I I I I I I i

'"~,_ '~.L ' "~'. ' '..~"9-'-b,-~

I I i i i I I
~ I ~ I 1 I I I I I

F l o . l 1. T e m p e r a t u r e c o n t o u r s at s e v e r a l t i m e s t a g e s in t h e m a i n c o o l i n g r e g i o n ; ( a ) t = 12 s, ( b ) t = 164.4,
(c) t = 7 2 9 . 9 .

and estimated pool depths are 1060 and 1490 cm, respectively. Due to the suspected
error in measurement, the estimated pool depth of 1490 cm is quite possible. This
confirmed our temperature analysis to some extent. The surface temperatures would
be valuable data for comparison, but unfortunately, are not available in reference [18].

Stress analysis and residual stresses

The pre-calculated temperature field is then imposed as a thermal load to the slice of
strand as it solidified, just the same scheme as used in the one-dimensional solidification
 134 T . C . TSZENG and S. KOBAYASHI

@ u

E
uo u u
u •

~,
o o

0
,,~ , ,

o 200 4o0 600 aoo ~ooo

TIME ( Sec )

FI6. 12. The position of liquid- and solid-phase fronts along the symmetry axis.

analysis. The M A R C code was used to carry out the thermo-elasto-plastic stress analysis.
The considered slice of the strand is assumed to be the state of plane strain in the x
a n d y c o o r d i n a t e s (Fig. 9). Since there is a 0.89% m -~ t a p e r o n the m o l d ' s inner
surface, a contact b o u n d a r y condition is furnished for the faces x = 0 a n d y = 0 for
t -< 41.95 s (or 70.9 cm from the meniscus). The GAP-FRICTION elements were used
for this p u r p o s e . The closure distances of these special elements were a d j u s t e d according
to the slope of the mold taper. The interfacial friction is assumed to be zero. For
t > 41.95, these outer faces are prescribed as the free surface. The displacements ux a n d
Uy are prohibited along the symmetry axes, x = 12.4 a n d y = 12.4, respectively.

(1) Stresses. Figures 13 and 14 give the history of stresses in the x- and y-direction
for some selected positions in the plane. The analysis ended at t = 4500 s at which the
stress state becomes more or less steady. Note that when the slice strand is still in the
mold, a mainly hydrostatically compressive stress is present in both the x- and y-
direction due to the action of the tapered mold's inner surface (see Fig. 15). The
stresses recover from the highly compressive state immediately after the slice of the
strand came out of the mold. The tranverse stress near the surface (say, the middle of
the outer surface) even becomes tensile in the order of 2 MPa (greater than one-half
of the corresponding yield stress) with temperature at 1300°C. Since the temperature
is 100°C below the lower limit of brittle high-temperature zone, hot tearing is unlikely
to occur in this region [20].

1.5E÷007

1.0£+007

'~EE5.0E+006

~ - 5.1~+006
W
e~
k-

- 1.01[+007

- 1.5C+007
........ ~'obb ....... i0bi~ ....... iobb ....... ~bi~' ' '
TIME (See)

FIG. 13. History of cry, at some points on the symmetry axis.

 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 135

1.5E+007

1.0E+007

E
f 5.0E+006
E
Z
v 0.0E+000

i
(w-5.0E+O06

~:{-1.0E+007

-1.5E+007:

-2.0E+007 .... ,,,,1,1 . . . . i .... , . . . . , .... ,,,,,i,,,,i ....

5oo ooo ~soo =ooo 2500 ~ooo 3soo 4000 4500
Time ( s )
(o)

1.5E+007

1.0E+007

E
I 5.0E+006 ELEM. 100
E
Z
O.OE+O00

c~
I
(~-5.0E+006

-1.0E+007.
U)

-1.5E+007.

-2.0E+007 ',,i .... u .... i .... i,,,,i,,,,i,,,,i .... i ....

500 1000 1500 2000 2.500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Time (S)

(b)

FIG. 14. History of ~r,2 at some points in this plane; (a) left surface, (b) symmetry axis.

1.5E+007

1.0E÷007

E
I 5.0E+006
E E~M.gt

Iv O.OE+O00 95
o~
I
oq -5.0E+006 1
L~
(,,,3
~W-l.0E+O07 -

-1.5E+007-

-2.0E+007
o 2b ,'0 60
TIME ( S e c )

FIG. 15. History of stress or2., when slice still inside the mold.
136 T.C. TSZENGand S. KOBAYASHI

For the transverse stress, tryy, along the symmetry line (i.e. element no. 91-100),
there is stress inversion during the cooling process. For the outer region, tryy is tensile
in the early stage and then becomes compressive. On the other hand, the stress in the
inner part is compressive and then becomes tensile. Figure 16 shows a picture of the
final distribution of residual stress along the symmetry line. The residual stress in
both x- and y-directions are compressive near the outer layer and tensile in the core.
However, the level is low when compared with the yield stress at the corresponding
temperature.

5.0E+006

iE• O.OE+O00

L~
-5.0E+006
O3

-t .OE+O07 . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . ,
0.0 4.0 8.0 12.0
DISTANCE FROM OUTER SURFACE ( c m )

Fro. 16. Residual stress distribution along the symmetryaxis.

The history of tryy for a solidifying particle at several positions in the slice is shown
in Fig. 17. It is interesting to observe that try,, becomes tensile right after the particle
solidified, as for the case of one-dimensional solidification discussed previously. Accord-
ing to the temperature history in Fig. 18, the changing rate of temperature for a recently
solidified particle is far more rapid than before solidification. Therefore the resistance
against shrinkage is coming from both the outer solidified shell and the inner region
which has not yet solidified. It is also noticeable that these tensile stresses occur right
in the brittle high-temperature zone, which is 40-70°C below the solidus temperature.
Although the strain eyy is not tensile, the possibility of hot tearing right next to the
solid-liquid interface is pretty high. In fact, the position behind the interface is the
place where most hot tearing is observed [20].
Figures 19a-c show the principal stresses in the plane at several time stages. Basically,
the extremes occur either in the core or near the midface along the outer surface. Fig.
20c represents the final state of residual stresses.

(2) Deformation. The displacement at the corner in the x-direction along with t h e
mold's taper is shown in Fig. 20. According to the present analysis, all the nodal points
along the shell surface, except the corner, keep in contact with the mold's inner face
when the slice is still inside the mold. In view of the possible over-estimated shrinkage
due to the uniform heat coefficient that we assumed on the shell surface, we can say
that (1) the air gap is not likely to extend beyond the very corner of the shell and,
therefore, (2) the assumed uniformity of heat coefficient along the shell surface is very
reasonable.
Shrinkage of the strand surface at some typical time stations is given in Fig. 21. When
the slice of strand comes out of the mold, the midface of the shell becomes bulgy. This
is due to both the hydrostatic pressure acting on the inner interface and the shrinkage
force acting along the length direction of the solid shell. However, the strand surface
becomes more uniform later on.
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 137

1.5E+007

1.0E+007 ~.EM. IIIJ

E
I 5.0E+006
E
z O.OE+O00

7
~ - 5.~+006

,~, -1.(~+007

-1.5E÷007

-2.0£+007 , i , , • i , , , i . . . .
0 20o ,oo eoo ' s~o '10oo
Time (s)

(a)

1.5E+007

I.OE÷O07
~.EUN
E
I 5.0E+006 t7
E
z O.OE+O00
?
o4-5.0E+006
9

~ -1.0E+007

-1,5E+007

-2.0E+007
o 2oo ,0o 600 coo ~0oo
Time (s)

(b)

FIG. 17. History of stress at points along the symmetry axis; (a) tr,~, (b) ~22.

1600

"--'1400

120O

bJ
~1000
hi
I'--

8OO
' " 'z,6o' ' '46o' " 'Mo' ' 'a6o' ' '1ooo
TIME (Sec)

FIG. 18. Temperature history at points along the symmetry axis.

138 T . C . TSZENG and S. KOI~A','ASltl

TT. TTyT(T ¥ Ty, ¥T.T :]

I I I I I i I I • I • I

,J,, ,l,l,+,~,x,~.,"-,
4.-1.-4- -- 4.--4`--4. -- 4.--4- -- 4.--,I. -- 4

',J ', / ', / ', / ', / ', × ; "*" ', "*" ',-+",
,~,l,t,t,t,.,.,...-,-,-,-,--,
4,--.-4. 4-.-4`--6. 4.--4- 4.--4- -- 4

,/,/,/,/,/,I:...
-- -- --

--,

,k,/,/,/,/,/,~,
I"-,"- ?'-t--t- 1--?- t ~ t , --, I
1---t- -- 1---t'--1- -- "t.--1- -- "I"--1" -- 4

Ix,×,/,/,/,.,.,
--4- -- 4---4.--4- -- 4.--4- -- 4.--4- .,., -- 4
I0 M P a
, X I, X ,. "/~.,
. . "4-.,
. '-t-., 11 ~Y- I : 11

(a)

,"
F
"-1-',, TT~TLT.~-T~.TS<T~T>~
4..-I--4- 4-.-4`--4- -- 4.--4- -- + - - 4 --'4
I I I I I I I I
,' ', ,' ,-,-,/,.x',X,X,X,X,
P 4. 4-

, ,~, ~,x,/,/,/,X,X,%,
,, ,.~, ~,x,/,/,/,/,/,¢,
k : 4.1(1#4..-P4.--,1~--4-" -- 4"---4. -- 4---4- -- 4

,.,
I
,<,></,/,/,/,/,÷,
i ~.1 i I I I I I I I

÷~ + --'~.--4,--4- +---4- +--@ -- -- -- .4

, .....
10 M P a
-- 4..l+ --'W~--~l.-- 4- -- 4.-- 4- -- 4.--4- -- 4

-- 1---1- -- "I---I"-- t- -- "l'-- t" -- 1--- t" -- "t

_XI_+_'--_I--~_'Z~2-~
21ZLI----"i-Li :--J
(b)

F-~TTT~T7TLtT--LT~,~T.~T..9]
, , , , , , , ,
, , , ~.,.--,....-,.->,-,---,'r,--V,X,'/-,
, . ,'<, k, .*- ,--,-,-,-.v, x ,-/-,+,
:::::::::::::::::::::
I- ~l. 4.*~ I , 4- - - 4.--4---4- -- 4--- I- -- 4.-. 4- .;- 4

,~,3~,k,x,l,l,/,/,+,+,
1. .I. 4. t1. ~, 4 . - - ' 4 . - - , I , - - . I , . -- 4.--4- -- 4. - - 4- ~ - 4

:--k:R':X:,x':/:/: . . . . '. . . . , . . . . . . . , . . . . ' . .

/ :t : t : + : '

, , ,)~,N,N,~,/,/, ~, ÷: I

,I, k, X,'b<.,"A,"A,"/-.,",-.,- - 4 . -~-, --, 5 MPa

I- : - 4 . _ . 1 , 4 - - - . t . T . . 4`;. - 4- - - 4 . - - 4 - -.4` - - -I

- ~:1- - "-f'--F1- -'--1- - "--1- -'

Cc)

FIG. 19. Principal stresses in the slice; ( a ) t = 7 2 9 . 9 s, ( b ) t = 1550 s, (c) t = 3695 s.

CONCLUSIONS

The stresses developed in the process of solidification have been calculated by

using a thermo-elasto-plastic finite element method. The temperature history at every
integrating point was calculated by using the heat transfer program coupled with
the temperature recovery method described in an accompanying paper. The stepwise
temperature history was then input to the MARC code by which the stress analysis at
each step was carried out. Since the whole domain including liquid region was analyzed
 Stress Analysis and Application in Solidification Processes 139

1.0

0.11

E
E
VO.$
I-
=i
w
,~ 0.4.
0,.
I/1
¢:1
0.2

0.0
Ib 2'o
TIME (no)
Ib 2b ~ ,b 5b 6b
DISTANCE BELOW MENISCUS (cm)

Fro. 20. Displacement in the x-direction of slice corner.

5,0

4,0 TIME m
E
vE
.3.0

O_.~2.0

~1 1. 0

0.0
o.o ' zb ,.b 6:o ' 8.b '~o'.o , zo
X-AXIS ( c m )

FIG. 21. Displacement of lower surface in the y-direction.

in the procedure of stress analysis, a special treatment was employed in handling the
no-strength liquid region.
The scheme of stress analysis was tested against a one-dimensional solidification
problem which possessed an analytical solution. Although there were a few differences
in constraint between these two cases, the predicted distribution of stress showed good
agreement both in pattern and magnitude. According to the calculated stress fields for
this one-dimensional case, the material point experienced a tensile stress right after it
solidified. The final distribution of residual stresses showed compression close to the
outer surface and tensile in the core.
The heat transfer and stresses involved in the continuous casting of low carbon
steel have been analyzed thoroughly. Both of the schemes used in the calculation of
temperature and stresses have already been tested for the one-dimensional solidification.
A two-dimensional model which consists of a transverse slice of the cast strand was
adopted for both heat transfer and stress analysis. In the heat transfer analysis, the
longitudinal heat flow was assumed to be negligible. The slice boundary experienced
convective and radiant cooling conditions, which changed according to the correspond-
ing position of the slice in the strand. The depth of the liquid pool showed good
agreement with experimental observation.
140 T.C. TSZENGand S. KOBAYASHI

A p l a n e strain m o d e l was used in the stress analysis. Since the same mesh system
a n d same i n t e g r a t i n g points were used in the heat transfer a n d stress analysis, the
t e m p e r a t u r e history at the integrating points, after some a d j u s t m e n t , was i n p u t to the
M A R C code for stress analysis. T h e mold t a p e r was t a k e n into a c c o u n t by changing
the closure distance of G A P - F R I C T I O N e l e m e n t s which were placed along the o u t e r
surface of the slice. T h e results of the analysis were expressed in terms of stress history,
principal stresses d i s t r i b u t i o n , final residual stresses, d e f o r m a t i o n of slice, etc. T h e
stress history along the s y m m e t r y axis in the plane was f o u n d to be similar to that of
o n e - d i m e n s i o n a l solidification. T h e final residual stresses were compressive n e a r the
o u t e r surface a n d tensile in the core.

Acknowledgement--The authors wish to thank the Army Research Office and the Battelle Columbus
Laboratories for their contracts and the National Science Foundation for its grant under which the present
study was possible. They also wish to thank the MARC Analysis Research Corporation, Palo Alto, California,
especially Dr Nuno Rebelo, for making the MARC code available to the University of California at Berkeley.

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