Continuous Casting and Solidification of Steels

Dear Colleagues,

Continuous casting remains a cornerstone of modern steel production, enabling efficient large-scale manufacturing of high-quality steel products. Despite decades of advancement, challenges persist in optimizing interfacial heat transfer, mold flux performance, and defect control across conventional continuous casting, thin-slab casting, and twin-roll strip casting processes. Emerging demands for energy efficiency, near-net-shape casting, and superior product quality necessitate deeper insights into solidification dynamics; interfacial interactions; and the relationships between parameters, heat transfer, stress fields, solidification, and quality.

This Special Issue invites original research and reviews addressing innovations in steel solidification and casting technologies. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Interfacial heat transfer mechanisms in molds and rolls;
• Mold flux design/optimization for lubrication, thermal control, and impurity absorption;
• Defect control (e.g., cracks, segregation, inclusions) through process parameter optimization;
• Multiscale solidification behavior (macrosegregation, microstructure evolution);
• Advanced modeling and in situ monitoring techniques for process control.

Submissions bridging fundamental research and industrial applications are particularly encouraged. Interdisciplinary studies integrating metallurgy, thermodynamics, and data-driven approaches will be prioritized.

Join us in advancing the frontiers of steel casting technology to meet the evolving demands of next-generation manufacturing.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Peisheng Lyu
Dr. Haihui Zhang
Prof. Dr. Lei Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.