Model for cooling and phase transformation behaviour of transformation induced plasticity steel on runout table in hot strip mill

Abstract

A mathematical model has been developed considering non-symmetric cooling in the thickness direction of strip on a runout table (ROT). In order to solve a one-dimensional transient heat transfer equation including the heat evolved from phase transformation, a finite element method was applied, coupled with thermodynamic and kinetic analyses. The heat capacities of each phase and heat evolution owing to phase transformation were obtained from thermodynamic analysis of the Fe–C–Mn–Si system using Thermo-Calc. The phase transformation kinetics of a transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel were derived by using continuous cooling experiments and thermodynamic analysis. Heat transfer coefficients of strips on the ROT were, by applying an inverse method, determined from actual mill data under various cooling conditions. Using the developed model, temperature–time variations of plain carbon and TRIP steels on the ROT were calculated. The calculated results were in good agreement with the actual mill data. In addition, quantitative phase evolution during cooling could also be predicted by the model. From this analysis, the optimum cooling pattern on a ROT for the production of TRIP steel could be determined.