Investigation of failure and damages on a continuous casting copper mould

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.