1 Introduction Continuous casting (CC) is responsible for over 96% of global steel production[1] due to its high yield, high-quality products, and low operating cost. While the continuous casting of steel is a relatively mature metallurgical process, defect formation including breakouts,[2-5] inclusion entrapment,[6, 7] cracking,[8-11] and segregation[12, 13] persist despite considerable attention and improvements made over the past few decades.