How material properties affect the thermal distortion of a mold for continuous casting of steel

Copper molds are adopted in continuous casting to provide an initial solidification of steel. The presence of molten steel induces relevant temperature gradients across mold walls. This, in turn, generates high stress levels, exceeding the yielding limit of the material. Recent works confirm that thermal distortion occurs due to both creep and cyclic plasticity. In this work a numerical investigation is developed, simulating the mold behavior under repeated heating and cooling sequences. The aim of this work is to compare the performances in terms of permanent distortion of different copper alloys usually adopted for such application. It can be observed that both material properties and operating temperature have a significant influence in the permanent distortion evolution.