材料期刊网

The conventional mould fluxes can not be applied to the continuous casting of RE alloyed heat resistant steel, because se-vere slag-metal interface reactions occur generally in the mold. To restrain the interface reaction and improve conditions for continu-ous casting, a new mould flux based on aluminate system was devised. The viscous properties were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were applied to detect and characterize the crystalline phases in the continuous cooling process. The results showed that appropriate addition of CeO2 could avoid the precipitation of CaO and decrease the viscosity of the mould flux. Increasing the mass ratio of CaO/Al2O3, especially to a value exceeding 1, could worsen the stability of the mould flux. With a con-tent of less than 14 wt.%, Li2O could reduce the viscosity and breaking temperature, but its effect could be weakened for the pro-moted precipitation of LiAlO2. To obtain a mould flux with stable viscous properties, such as viscosity and breaking temperature, ap-propriate contents of CeO2 and Li2O should be controlled to around 10 wt.% and 14 wt.%, while the mass ratio of CaO/Al2O3 should not be more than 1.