<p>Sampling of liquid steel to control the steel making process is very important in the steel industry. However, there are numerous types of disposable samplers and no united standard for sampling. The goal in this study is to investigate the effect of slag protection type and sample geometry on sampling parameters and sample homogeneity. Three sample geometries were selected: i) Björneborg ii) Lollipop with a 6 mm thickness and iii) Lollipop with a 12 mm thickness. These sample geometries have been tested with two types of slag protection: metal-cap-protection and argon-protection. The filling velocity and solidification rate of steel samples have been experimentally measured during plant trials. The sample homogeneity with respect to total oxygen content and inclusion size distribution has been determined in different parts of the samples. The study shows that argon-protected samplers have lower, more even, filling velocities (0.19±0.09 m/s) compared to metal-cap-protected samplers (1.28±2.23 m/s). The solidification rate measurements of the different samplers show that the 6 mm thick Lollipop has the highest solidification rate (99~105 °C/s).  Measurements of total oxygen content in argon-protected samples showed little variation between different zones of the samples. However, metal-cap-protected samples contained much higher total oxygen contents. Light optical microscope studies showed that the increase in total oxygen content was probably caused by entrapment of top slag during sampling. Furthermore, it was found that the contamination of top slag in the metal samples increased with a decreased sample weight. Determination of inclusion size distribution in argon-protected Lollipop samples showed that a larger number of primary inclusions are found in the top part compared to the middle and the bottom part of the samples.</p><p> </p>

Sampling of liquid steel to control the steel making process is very important in the steel industry. However, there are numerous types of disposable samplers and no united standard for sampling. The goal in this study is to investigate the effect of slag protection type and sample geometry on sampling parameters and sample homogeneity. Three sample geometries were selected: i) Björneborg ii) Lollipop with a 6 mm thickness and iii) Lollipop with a 12 mm thickness. These sample geometries have been tested with two types of slag protection: metal-cap-protection and argon-protection. The filling velocity and solidification rate of steel samples have been experimentally measured during plant trials. The sample homogeneity with respect to total oxygen content and inclusion size distribution has been determined in different parts of the samples. The study shows that argon-protected samplers have lower, more even, filling velocities (0.19±0.09 m/s) compared to metal-cap-protected samplers (1.28±2.23 m/s). The solidification rate measurements of the different samplers show that the 6 mm thick Lollipop has the highest solidification rate (99~105 °C/s).  Measurements of total oxygen content in argon-protected samples showed little variation between different zones of the samples. However, metal-cap-protected samples contained much higher total oxygen contents. Light optical microscope studies showed that the increase in total oxygen content was probably caused by entrapment of top slag during sampling. Furthermore, it was found that the contamination of top slag in the metal samples increased with a decreased sample weight. Determination of inclusion size distribution in argon-protected Lollipop samples showed that a larger number of primary inclusions are found in the top part compared to the middle and the bottom part of the samples.

La thèse est centrée sur la modélisation de la physique du comportement d’un alliage binaire et l’implémentation du meilleur modèle mathématique pour simuler le changement de phase liquide solide en tenant compte de la vitesse de refroidissement, la vitesse de solidification, la ségrégation, la convection naturelle et la surfusion afin d’optimiser la capacité de stockage de chaleur d'un tel matériau. Dans le présent travail, les températures pour lesquelles le changement de phase s'opère sont estimées grâce aux diagrammes des phases et la méthodologie CALPHAD qui retraduisent les différentes phases d'un alliage binaire, y compris la transformation isotherme. Pour cela, la minimisation de l'énergie de Gibbs est résolue dans un code de calcul développé à cette occasion et aboutit à l'identification des phases stables du matériau. Pour un intervalle de température souhaite le code permet d'estimer rapidement la décharge de chaleur pour la composition de l'alliage sélectionné en équilibre ou hors équilibre. Dans la méthode proposée, la vitesse de refroidissement du système permet de calculer la vitesse de solidification. Puis,celle-ci établit la relation entre la cinétique globale et la macrostructure. Basé sur le modèle de non-équilibre local, qui dépend de la variation du coefficient de partition, le degré de surfusion est prédit à partir de la vitesse de refroidissement appliquée. Une étude bibliographique a été réalisée pour amener une comparaison numérique et assurer la capacité de notre méthode à reproduire le changement de phase, en incluant des phénomènes spécifiques tels que la surfusion et la recalescence. / Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) shows high storage density compared to sensible thermal systems. For high temperature applications, the use of alloys as phase change materials presents many advantages. Principally, varying alloy composition allows controlling the storage\discharge of thermal energy through an expected temperature range (defined by the heat source), and the high thermal conductivity givessuitable heat transfer properties to the system that receives/supplies the energy. However, some systems need a specific temperature range to correctly operate. In such conditions, subcooling (also known as undercooling) and segregation are undesirable phenomena in alloys when they are used as PCM. In thepresent work, we propose a method to predict the latent heat release during phase transformation of a binaryalloy submitted to a controlled cooling rate, including subcooling, segregation and variation of composition.This thesis describes the physical models that apply when heat is released from such a material. We takeinto consideration the cooling rate applied to the PCM, the solidification velocity, convective phenomena,melting temperature and subcooling. In the present work, phase diagrams and the CALPHAD methodologyare used to determine the temperature range for phase change (or constant temperature value for isothermal transformation) by minimizing the Gibbs equilibrium energy. The Gibbs free energy minimization has been implemented in a homemade numerical code. The material can be screened with different compositions for equilibrium or off-equilibrium solidification allowing quick selection of the optimal material for the specific heatsource. In the proposed method, the solidification velocity is obtained from the cooling rate. Then, variationin microstructure is driven by the solidification velocity using the local non-equilibrium diffusion model. Based on the local nonequilibrium model that depends on the partition coefficient variation, the subcooling degree, wich is derived from the applied cooling rate is predicted. A bibliographic study has been carried out and anumerical comparison has been undertaken to ensure the capacity of our code to reproduce the phase change of various materials that include phenomena such as subcooling and recalescence. The results highlight that the cooling rate is one of the most important parameters in the performance of the thermal storage, having a large effect on segregation and subcooling degree. Moreover, we show the influence ofpartition coefficient on the time evolution of solid fraction, considering a constant or a composition-dependent value. We can conclude that the latent heat release can be correctly predicted provided that the method correctly predicts the phase diagram and the variable partition coefficient. This work helps to accelerate the design and development of thermal storage systems and lays the foundation to continue exploring other kinds of materials (e.g. paraffins).

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an innovative manufacturing process which offers near-net shape fabrication of complex components, directly from CAD models, without dies or substantial machining, resulting in a reduction in lead-time, waste, and cost. For example, the buy-to-fly ratio for a titanium component machined from forged billet is typically 10-20:1 compared to 5-7:1 when manufactured by AM. However, the production rates for most AM processes are relatively slow and AM is consequently largely of interest to the aerospace, automotive and biomedical industries. In addition, the solidification conditions in AM with the Ti alloy commonly lead to undesirable coarse columnar primary β grain structures in components. The present research is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of the influence of the processing conditions on microstructure and texture evolution and their resulting effect on the mechanical properties during additive manufacturing with a Ti6Al4V alloy, using three different techniques, namely; 1) Selective laser melting (SLM) process, 2) Electron beam selective melting (EBSM) process and, 3) Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process. The most important finding in this work was that all the AM processes produced columnar β-grain structures which grow by epitaxial re-growth up through each melted layer. By thermal modelling using TS4D (Thermal Simulation in 4 Dimensions), it has been shown that the melt pool size increased and the cooling rate decreased from SLM to EBSM and to the WAAM process. The prior β grain size also increased with melt pool size from a finer size in the SLM to a moderate size in EBSM and to huge grains in WAAM that can be seen by eye. However, despite the large difference in power density between the processes, they all had similar G/R (thermal gradient/growth rate) ratios, which were predicted to lie in the columnar growth region in the solidification diagram. The EBSM process showed a pronounced local heterogeneity in the microstructure in local transition areas, when there was a change in geometry; for e.g. change in wall thickness, thin to thick capping section, cross-over’s, V-transitions, etc. By reconstruction of the high temperature β microstructure, it has been shown that all the AM platforms showed primary columnar β grains with a <001>β.