The tundish is a refractory container used in short-process steelmaking. It first receives the molten steel poured from the ladle, and then distributes it to the various molds through the tundish nozzle. As an important basic raw material, steel plays a pivotal role in the economic development of all countries in the world. Since the 1850s, with the emergence of Bessemer converters and flat furnaces and the rise of large-scale steel manufacturing, the civilization and progress of human society has accelerated significantly. Especially since the 20th century, the vigorous development of the steel industry has become an important material basis for the progress of global economy and social civilization. In the foreseeable time frame, steel is still a very important material in the world. The comprehensive excellent performance of steel materials makes it still an irreplaceable material in major basic industries and infrastructure. Because of its cost competitiveness, high reserve of raw materials, easy mining, easy processing, and good recyclability, steel will still be the main global basic raw material.

In the development process of the steel industry, its basic principles have not undergone fundamental changes, but the technological formation of each process in the steel production process and the connotation of the composition of the project have undergone tremendous changes, thus making the structural mode and manufacturing of the steel plant The process has undergone profound changes.

In the 1950s, continuous casting technology, a symbol of the iron and steel industrial revolution, was developed. Its characteristics are fast process speed, concentrated investment and increasingly perfect technology. In 1970, the world's continuous casting ratio was only 5.6%. By 1990, the world's continuous casting ratio had reached 62.4%, and the continuous casting ratio of some industrially developed countries exceeded 95%. In recent years, many steelmaking plants in the world have replaced die casting production with full continuous casting production. By 1994, 24 countries had achieved full continuous casting.

Compared with traditional die casting, continuous casting has the advantages of improving metal yield and reducing energy consumption, and reducing metal resources and energy consumption is in line with the requirements of sustainable development. The realization of full continuous casting simplifies the steelmaking production process, shortens the process, and significantly improves the production efficiency. The tundish is an intermediate link in the steelmaking production process, and it is the connection point from intermittent operation to continuous operation. Tundish as a metallurgical reactor is an important part of improving steel output and quality. Whether for the smooth progress of continuous casting operations or for ensuring that the quality of molten steel meets needs, the role of the tundish cannot be ignored. It is generally believed that the intermediate package plays the following roles:

1. Shunting function. For the multi-stream continuous casting machine, the molten steel is divided by the multi-nozzle tundish.

2. Continuous pouring effect. In the multi-furnace continuous pouring, the molten steel stored in the tundish plays a role as a link when changing the steel drum.

3. Decompression effect. The height of the liquid level in the steel drum is 5-6m, the impact force is great, and the range of change is also great during the casting process. The liquid level of the tundish is lower than that of the ladle, and the change range is much smaller. Therefore, it can be used to stabilize the molten steel casting process and reduce the erosion of the solidified billet shell of the mold by the steel flow.

4. Protective effect. Through the covering agent of the liquid surface of the tundish, the shroud and other protective devices, the molten steel in the tundish is reduced from external pollution.

5. The role of removing impurities. As the last refractory container that the molten steel passes through before solidification, the tundish has an important impact on the quality of steel. As far as possible, the particles of non-metallic inclusions in the steel should be eliminated when it is in a liquid state.

The roles that tundish metallurgical research should play are:

1. Improve the flow conditions of the molten steel to remove the non-metallic inclusions in the steel as much as possible; that is, prevent short-circuit flow, reduce the dead zone, improve the direction of the flow line, and increase the residence time of the molten steel.

2. Control the temperature of the molten steel, and add heating measures when necessary to keep the molten steel superheat stable.

3. Choose appropriate lining refractory materials and molten pool covering agent, which not only reduces heat loss but also helps to absorb separated and floating inclusions.