Effects of alternating magnetic field and casting parameters on solidification structure and mechanical properties of copper hollow billets

Alternating magnetic field of commercial frequency was used during horizontal continuous casting of copper hollow billets. The effects of input current intensity of alternating magnetic field and casting parameters were studied to obtain good quality production. The result shows that the formerly unhomogeneous columnar grain structure turns into homogeneous equiaxed grain structure with the application of alternating magnetic field. Different casting parameters such as casting speed, casting temperature and cooling intensity are attempted to explore best techniques to match with the effect of alternating magnetic field. When the input current intensity is 50 A, casting speed is 0.0042 m/s, casting temperature is 1150 °C and cooling intensity is 1m3/h, the tensile strength is increased by 15.9% and the elongation is improved by 63.8% compared to those without alternating magnetic field.