The electroslag remelting (ESR) process has been used effectively to produce large ingots of high quality based on the controlled solidification and chemical refining that can be achieved. Despite the widespread application of industrial facilities, there are still issues that prevent an effective control of the process. This is particularly critical considering the large ingots produced industrially which makes the traditional trial and error approach prohibitively expensive. Thus, mathematical models of the process are a good alternative as a process control tool. To predict the relationship between operating parameters such as power input and type, fill ratio, depth of electrode immersion, and slag chemistry and the casting rate, microstructural features, and ingot chemical composition, it is then necessary to develop mathematical models based on differential equations describing the fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer phenomena that take place during the process. In the present paper, mathematical models of the transport phenomena occurring during ESR are reviewed. Although the models have evolved to a point where several features of the process can be predicted and the dominant transport mechanisms have been elucidated, more effort is required before the models can be applied to define actual operating conditions.

The Cooling curve analysis is a powerful method for characterising the cooling power of quenching media. The cooling curve (temperature vs. time) is obtained experimentally using standard specimens, although non-standard specimens have also been used. The different stages of cooling in vaporisable media can be identified from visual inspection of a cooling curve; other quantities such as cooling rate, heat transfer boundary conditions and final mechanical properties may be calculated using algorithms of diverse complexity. In this paper, the application of a windows-based computer-aided analytical tool, WinProbe, in the context of the cooling curve analysis is presented. The software may be used, not only to analyse experimentally determined cooling curves, but can also be applied as a virtual quenching tool.