Modeling and control of Stelmor cooling process: advances, challenges and perspectives

As the core technology of the wire rod controlled cooling process, the Stelmor cooling process (SCP) plays a decisive role in regulating the final microstructure and properties of the products. However, this process is subjected to strong multi-parameter coupling, which frequently leads to non-uniform temperature field distributions and difficulties in precisely controlling phase transformation. These issues severely limit the quality stability and high-value-added manufacturing potential of premium wire rod products. Therefore, the technological evolution of the SCP is reviewed, focusing on the research progress related to modeling of temperature fields, phase transformation kinetics, and control strategies. On this basis, the development of a multi-scale digital materials engineering platform and a digital twin system that integrates mechanistic and data-driven models is envisioned as a promising direction. By employing model order reduction to balance high-fidelity simulation with real-time computational demands, such a framework could lay the foundation for future intelligent, high-precision closed-loop control of the SCP.