Thermal conductivity of powders used in continuous casting of steel part 2: Powders

Measurements of the thermal conductivity of casting powders are needed to determine the magnitude of the vertical heat flux in the powder bed of a continuous casting mould. The thermal conductivities and thermal diffusivities of four mould powders have been determined using the transient plane source (TPS) and the transient hot wire (THW) methods. The values reported in this investigation are in good agreement with the results of earlier studies which used the THW method. However, the results were significantly different from λeff values obtained in thermal insulation tests. This was attributed to the large contribution to λeff from gaseous conduction which arises from the large temperature gradient across the sample. It was found that the thermal conductivity (λpowd) of the powders had a mean value of 0.125±0.025 W m-1 K-1 for the four powders studied; this value is in good agreement with two other studies; it increased as the temperature increased with a mean temperature coefficient of (dλ/dT59×10-5 W m-1 K-2 for the range 295-1100 K and increased as the bulk density increased (λ295=0.010+1.69×10-4ρbulk W m-1 K-1).