Investigation of failure and damages on a continuous casting copper mould

• Copper moulds are used in the continuous casting of steel.
• The failure analysis of a mould coated with chromium was performed.
• The thermal stresses promote the plate cracking.
• The high zinc content of the liquid steel diffuse through the copper.
• The zinc enrichment promotes the copper mould failure.

Copper moulds are critical components in the continuous casting of steel and the surface condition of the mould directly affects the product quality and premature failure/low wear life produce a detrimental effect on the output productivity of the continuous casting machine.This paper presents the failure analysis of a copper-based mould whose sides are coated with chromium. The performed analysis points out that the extended damage is due to two main causes: the failure origin is attributed to thermal stresses caused by working conditions and the copper wear is associated with the high zinc content of the liquid steel.