Application of soft reduction technique to continuous-casting billets

Soft reduction technique can decrease the presence of central porosity and centerline segregation, and thus to enhance the internal quality effectively. In order to produce high quality billets, Xinxing Ductile Cast Pipe Group Co. Ltd. of China has installed a set of soft reduction apparatus on No. 1 caster and has achieved a great success. The principle, operating conditions and controlling factors, and the specification of soft reduction for solidifying billets are introduced. In order to make the effectiveness of soft reduction clear, metallurgical evaluation is made. The results indicate that soft reduction can increase equiaxial zone by 3%.