CFD Modeling of Thin Sheet Product Using the Horizontal Single Belt Casting Method

The Horizontal Single Belt Casting (HSBC)Horizontal Single Belt Casting (HSBC) process involves castingCasting a thin “river” of molten metal directly onto a fast-moving, continuously cooled, endless belt. By castingCasting at higher cooling rates than is common, uniform solidificationSolidification rates across unconstrained “thin sheets” of meltMelt are maintained, yielding excellent cast properties and microstructuresMicrostructure. A non-isothermal analysis of heat flows in the critical region where the meltMelt first pours onto the water-cooled belt is made and compared with results from an experimental caster. For this, the CFDComputational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS-Fluent 19.1 code was run, using various combinations of meltMelt processingProcessing parameters. It provided accurate predictions of the “windows” available for stable strips of AA6111, AA5182, and AA2024 alloys, to be cast. The HSBC’s significant reductionsReduction in capital and operating costs, due to significantly reduced processingProcessing steps, lower energy consumption, and lower greenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissions, make it a valuable alternative to current-day practices.