Prf Rongshan Qin

A collaborative project to bid for EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS). The project is led by Dr. Dr Bridget Stewart at Materials Processing Institute at UK. The partners include the Swerea Mefos AB at Sweden, Sandvik Materials Technology AB at Sweden, Arcelormittal Maizeieres Research SA at France, ABB AB at Sweden, Sidenor Investigacion Desarrollosa at Spain and The University of Warwick at UK.

Mesoscales refer to those in between atomistic and macroscales. Such scales exist in almost all physical, chemical, biological, biomedical, material, pharmaceutical and engineering phenomena and processes. Mesoscales bridge atomistic and macroscales, and thus span many orders of magnitude. To resolve mesoscales is a great computational challenge, which requires ever more powerful HEC platforms. Unsurprisingly, mesoscale modelling and simulation has grown in capability and popularity in tandem with the development of HEC. In particular, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has had a phenomenal growth in recent decades. Other methods under study that share the philosophy and aim of mesoscale modelling and simulation include dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), discrete velocity method (DVM), direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC), and coarse-grained MD (CGMD). Due to the pervasiveness and complexity of mesoscopic problems, the research and end-user communities working in the field are diverse and multidisciplinary. The consortium not only acts as a focal point for the diverse communities but also allows efficient utilisation of HEC resources through coordination and training.

UKCOMES addresses scientific and engineering problems at mesoscales which lie between atomistic and macroscales. Such problems are ubiquitous in, for example, a wide variety of physical, chemical, biological, biomedical, material, pharmaceutical and engineering phenomena and processes. Mesoscale engineering sciences are truly interdisciplinary and cross-cutting, uniting the engineering and science research communities. The modelling and simulation methodologies are based on non-continuum or discrete approaches, including lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD). UKCOMES has been funded by the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/L00030X/1, 01/06/2013 – 31/05/2018) for HEC resources. It has also won an award under the EPSRC Computational Science and Engineering Software Flagship Project Call (EP/P022243/1, 06/2017 – 05/2020, HiLeMMS, £513,863). The expanded UKCOMES will capitalize on its successes to lead the research field in the world and to deliver both academic and end-user impact.

As the nonmetallic inclusions (Al2O3, SiO2, etc.) caused stresses, cracks, creep, microstructure instability and many other detrimental effects in the service loading of steel components, a novel electropulsing processing method has been proposed with the aim to improve the cleanliness of liquid steel. However, the key issue for the application of this technology, the clear understanding of the initial solidification behaviors under the influence of electropulse occurred in the continuous casting mold, is missing, due to the fact that the behaviors of heat/mass transfer, mold flux infiltration and crystallization, inclusion removal and molten steel initial solidification in the continuous casting mold would be changed when electropulse is applied to the mold. Through the cooperation of this project, the novel electropulsing mold simulator technique could be successfully developed, by the integration of the electropulsing processing (EP) with the recently developed mold simulator technology. Therefore, the above key thermodynamic issues stand between the laboratory scale research and large-scale industrial applications could be clarified through the study based on this proposed advanced technology. Consequently, the proposed electropulse-based superclean steel green process method could be potentially applied to the global steel industry for the production of super clean pipe steel or other advanced steel grades with huge energy-saving and low CO2 emission.

This proposal aims to study electropulse-induced microstructure regeneration of stainless steels. Specifically, multi-scale modelling and lab-scale experiments will investigate the stability and reversibility of aged microstructures under pulsed electric currents, in cast austenitic stainless steel (CASS) and duplex stainless steel (DSS). In CASS, ageing produces precipitates. In DSS ageing induces spinodal decomposition and G-phase formation. Electropulsing’s ability to dissolve precipitates and reverse spinodal decomposition shows the potential to regenerate the microstructure and properties of alloys. This research is set to explore the mechanism behind this, to understand the scientific nature of the phenomena, and to assess the applicability of the technique in engineering practice.

The proposal requests financial support for 1 research assistant for 36 months, in order to study the effect of electropulsing on non-metallic inclusions in liquid steel. The purpose of the work is to improve steel cleanliness by reducing the total amount and average size of inclusions in liquid steel by electropulsing. This will reduce energy consumption significantly cf. current clean steel processing. This programme involves collaboration between the Department of Materials at the Imperial College London and Tata Steel Teesside Technology Centre, United Kingdom. The commitment of our industrial partner to the project is testified by their substantial support of £20,000 in kind.