ICRF 2026 - 5th International Conference on INGOT CASTING, ROLLING & FORGING

In steel industry, ensuring high steel quality is essential to guarantee superior performance of final components. However, defects such as shrinkage porosity, macrosegregation and non-metallic inclusions in steel ingots can adversely affect mechanical properties. Various software tools are currently used to simulate ingot filling and solidification. However, while these tools are known to be...

The growing use of machine learning (ML) in continuous casting offers new opportunities for process monitoring and quality optimisation. However, ML approaches that do not explicitly incorporate physical knowledge often show limited robustness, interpretability and extrapolation capability when dealing with complex defect phenomena such as crack formation.
This contribution reports original...

Ingot size and shape, porosity, segregation and CET (columnar to equiaxial transition) zone position in steel ingots have significant influence on the quality of final product and are the main reasons why the ingot manufacturers need the right tools to choose the technology parameters to get a cost effective product and improve the internal quality of the ingots.

The goal of this work was...

Steels for fusion applications will have stringent chemical requirements due to the activation potential arising from the high energy neutrons – therefore prediction of casting-induced segregation is important to ensure specifications can be met. The NEURONE (NEUtron iRradiatiOn of advaNced stEels) programme is a UKAEA-led consortium looking to develop advanced reduced-activation...

This project focuses on the development of an advanced numerical modeling platform based on OpenFOAM for the simulation of remelting and solidification processes of metallic alloys through ESR and VAR. The modeling activity was validated through experimental trials carried out at both pilot scale and industrial scale for ingots with diameter above 1000 mm.
The experimental campaign included...

Quality certification remains one of the most knowledge-intensive and time-consuming activities in the industrial forging sector, regardless of the manufacturing route, including open-die forging, closed-die forging, ring rolling, upset forging and precision forging. In many companies, certification still depends heavily on experienced engineers who manually collect production records,...