Hydrogen Wear of the Slab Continuous Casting Guiding Tribosystems

Abstract

The steel continuous casting equipment consists of a set of technical systems which, tribologically, may be regarded as tribological systems. The process model contains input –output, command and control parameters. Both input-output and control parameters can be measurable or nonmeasurable. For the purpose of this tribological study, the steel continuous casting equipment has been divided into four areas, the base of which is considered the movement at the slab-equipment contact: area 1 (M), the mould where the relative movement is an alternative sliding between slab and mold; area 2 (Tg), the guiding rollers, where the slab-roller movement is a rolling one; area 3 (Tgt), guiding/pulling rollers, where the slab-roller movement is a rolling/sliding one; area 4 (Tgtr), guiding/pulling/soft-reduction rollers, where the slab-roller movement is a rolling/forced-sliding one. The hydrogen has an embrittlement action on all triboelements (rollers and casted steel). At higher temperatures and in the presence of the mechanical stress, the hydrogen may damage the parts of the continuous casting equipment. The action of the hydrogen embrittlement on steel was appreciated with the alternative bending test and a roller deterioration is presented.