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VALCRA - Valorisation and dissemination of RFCS projects results and experience in steel surface quality
Funding and Project Partners
This was a collaborative project between 5 organisations and funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS).
The organisations involved were:
• Rina Consulting – Centro Sviluppo Materiali (CSM) SpA, Italy (Project Coordinator)
• BFI - VDEH-Betriebsforschungsinstitut GMBH, Germany
• Materials Processing Institute, United Kingdom
• Sidenor I+D, Spain
• SWERIM, Sweden
Project Objectives
The project objective was to review and analyse knowledge generated about the formation of cracks during continuous casting of steel carried out in the last 25 years, along with a review of technology developments outside the RFCS portfolio and to promote and exploit these results through the development of a roadmap for future research activities and priorities.
Project Activities
To facilitate the review the subject was split into 5 topics:
• Basic Knowledge – Chemistry, Microstructure, Hot Ductility - Sidenor I+D
• Modelling - Mould Modelling, Secondary Cooling Modelling, Thermodynamic and Microstructural Modelling – SWERIM
• Process Optimisation - Layout Design, Operating Conditions, Improved Steel Compositions - Rina Consulting/CSM
• Mould Powders - Materials Processing Institute
• Process Control and Sensoring – Measuring Online control systems - BFI
Previous projects were rated as to the relative success and technology level and best practice was identified considering how the state of the art was progressed through the specific research of each project.
Project Outcomes
This knowledge was used as the basis for a number of dissemination activities and led to the generation of a proposed roadmap for future European funded research in steel quality improvement through the reduction of cracking during casting.
• A comprehensive state of the art was developed and published via a dedicated website.
• Online technical events each concentrating on sharing different aspects of the research were scheduled which were very well attended by industry and academia.
• A number of dissemination events were originally planned to be a mixture of live presentations at live events such as industry conferences and dedicated online webinars were to be used to promote the information gathered. Due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic all but one of these events were presented online. These events were free and open to all interested parties. They were advertised widely through the contacts of all the project partners.
The project website www.valcra.eu was used to further disseminate all the information gathered during the technical review. Videos of the webinars can be accessed through the website along with the presentations.
In addition to the website a LinkedIn page was created the “European Continuous Casting Network (ECCN)” which was used both to promote the dissemination activities and encourage discussion. The LinkedIn page is available at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-continuous-casting-network/.
The secondary aim of the project was to generate a proposed roadmap for research going forward. Several online events were held both open and with targeted audiences to discuss the future requirements for research. From these along with the information and conclusions derived from the investigation of previous research a number of topics for future research were suggested and presented in a final online roadmap event. This also available via the VALCRA website.
VALCRA was targeted at a specific topic of interest to many parties. This kind of collaborative approach to the investigation of prior work, the interpretation and dissemination of key information using the collaboration of a number of recognised expert organisations proved to be very powerful. It draws upon diverse expertise, promotes in depth discussion between peer organisations and potentially will lead to a more coordinated and targeted research plan for the future.
LINK TO THE PROJECT CASE STUDY - https://www.mpiuk.com/downloads/case-studies/CS-018-Valorisation-and-dissemination-of-RFCS-projects-in-steel-surface-quality.pdf
27 July 2021
