Continuous Or Semicontinuous Casting Patents (Class 164/418)
  • Patent number: 6863115
    Abstract: A liquid-cooled mold for the continuous casting of metals, including mold plates made of copper or a copper alloy, which are supported at their rear on supporting plates by the use of a plurality of bolts. The bolts have bolt heads in the region of the backsides of the supporting plates facing away from the mold plates. Between the bolt heads and the supporting plate an articulation system making possible relative motion between the mold plate and the supporting plates is incorporated, having two articulation members, between which a sliding element is undetachably embedded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: KM Europa Metal AG
    Inventors: Gerhard Hugenschütt, Thomas Rolf, Dietmar Kolbeck, Hans-Günter Wobker
  • Publication number: 20040244938
    Abstract: An open-ended mold for casting metal strands with a thin slab cross section, the mold having broad-side walls which form a central widening region which extends from the mold inlet edge to the mold outlet edge and at the outlet edge opens out in a rectangular outlet cross section. To prevent to a great extent the strand from coming away from the broad-side walls, the contour of the mold cavity in the widening region is formed, as seen in sectional planes taken at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the mold, by curves which at least in partial regions form clothoids or clothoidal curves, within which sudden changes in curvature (&Dgr;k) are minimized or reduced to zero. The curvature reduces to flat at the mold outlet edge. Other cavity surface features are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2004
    Publication date: December 9, 2004
    Inventors: Andreas Flick, Gernot Lettmayr, Franz Wimmer, Guoxin Shan
  • Patent number: 6827127
    Abstract: A method for blasting calibrating a chill mold (1) is provided. A calibrating mandrel is inserted into chill mold (1), thereafter an explosive material is placed on the outer surface (4) of chill mold (1) and is ignited. The inner side (3) of chill mold (1) is pressed against the calibrating mandrel by the explosive force, and brought to the setpoint measure. In the mold wall (2), chill mold (1) has bores (5) for cooling means and for measuring elements, which extend in the longitudinal direction (LR) of chill mold (1) and exit at the end faces (6, 7) of mold wall (2). Before the blasting calibration, the bores (5) are filled up with a free-flowing material and tightly closed. The free-flowing material is preferably an incompressible fluid and/or a bulk material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: KM Europa Metal AG
    Inventor: Roland Hauri
  • Patent number: 6810943
    Abstract: A continuous casting installation for producing thin slabs includes a laterally adjustable mold in which an immersion nozzle protrudes. In the mold there is opposite a larger crowned cross section on the charging side a cross section on the strand outlet side which is small and identically crowned in the central region. The installation further has pairs of supporting and guiding rollers which follow the mold and have a caliber adapted to the emerging crowned strand. The broad-face parts have planar-surface central parts which are arranged parallel to one another along their widths and taper toward one another in the casting direction of the strand. The broad-face parts also have planar side surfaces arranged so that they taper conically toward each other in the direction of the narrow faces. The planar-surface central plate is connected to the planar-surface side surfaces by transitional parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2004
    Assignee: SMS Demag AG
    Inventor: Werner Rahmfeld
  • Patent number: 6808003
    Abstract: A method of operating a twin wheel conform metal extrusion device or a cladding extrusion device for producing a composite of an extruded metal shell bonded to a metal foam core. A metal feedstock is extruded through an extrusion die defining a cavity housing a hollow extrusion mandrel to produce a metal shell. Liquid foam of a second metal is simultaneously delivered through the hollow mandrel bore such that the foam exiting the axial bore is metallurgically bonded to the metal extruded through the cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2004
    Assignee: Alcoa Inc.
    Inventors: Narsimhan Raghunathan, J. Daniel Bryant, Andrew J. Hinkle
  • Patent number: 6808009
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for providing consistent lubricant and/or gas flow through multiple permeable perimeter walls in a casting mold table. One or more of the properties of the perimeter walls indicative of the lubricant flow or gas flow rates through the perimeter walls are predetermined and the sizing of the surface area of the delivery conduits providing the lubricant or the gas are determined based on a correlation to the properties related to the measured or estimated lubricant flow rate and/or measured or estimated gas flow rates through the perimeter walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2004
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventor: Michael K. Anderson
  • Patent number: 6799627
    Abstract: Molds are fabricated having a substrate of high density, high strength ultrafine grained isotropic graphite, and having a mold cavity coated with titanium carbide. The molds may be made by making the substrate (main body) of high density, high strength ultrafine grained isotropic graphite, by, for example, isostatic or vibrational molding, machining the substrate to form the mold cavity, and coating the mold cavity with titanium carbide via either chemical deposition or plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition, magnetron sputtering or sputtering. The molds may be used to make various metallic alloys such as nickel, cobalt and iron based superalloys, stainless steel alloys, titanium alloys and titanium aluminide alloys into engineering components by melting the alloys in a vacuum or under a low partial pressure of inert gas and subsequently casting the melt in the graphite molds under vacuum or low partial pressure of inert gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2004
    Assignee: Santoku America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjan Ray, Donald W. Scott
  • Publication number: 20040188056
    Abstract: A chill tube (1) for the continuous casting of metals has a double T-shaped cross section in beam blank format. Inner contour (3) defining the cross section of the cast billet is cooled by cooling water, which is guided through cooling channels (4) in tube wall (2). Cooling channels (4) have a round cross section when manufactured. Inner contour (3) has rounded transitions (6) between wall sections (9) bordering a flange region (7) and a crosspiece region (8). The distance (A) between two cooling channels (4) adjacent to each other in transitions (6) is smaller than distance (B) in the remaining wall sections (9).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2004
    Publication date: September 30, 2004
    Inventors: Roland Hauri, Egon MacKowiak, Dietmar Kolbeck, Gerhard Hugenschutt
  • Patent number: 6776215
    Abstract: For a further development a device for continuous casting of metal, in particular steel, with a metal mold with mold walls (1,18) and a mold cooling device and which can remove high thermal flows and can be subjected to thermal loads and, thereble, is suitable for use at high speeds, at least one mold wall (1,18) of the mold of this device should include a steel wall (2) and a support mesh (3) for this wall and the device further should be provided with magnetic field generator (3.2) for generating a magnetic field (3.1) acting on the mold steel wall (2) via the support mesh (3) for attracting the mold steel wall (2) to the support mesh (3), with the mold cooling device comprising spray cooling means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: SMS Demag AG
    Inventors: Joachim Schwellenbach, Michael Vonderbank, Fritz-Peter Pleschiutschnigg
  • Patent number: 6742571
    Abstract: A build-up mold for continuous casting has a cooling plate having a plurality of separate and unconnected slit grooves forming cooling channels by a supporting panel attached to the cooling plate using tightening members, wherein the width of the slit grooves next to the tightening members is wider than the width of other slit grooves while depth of all slit grooves are substantially the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2004
    Assignee: Japan Engineering Network Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsukasa Yamasaki, Yasuhiko Kinoshita, Takaharu Tagashira
  • Publication number: 20040099402
    Abstract: For a further development a device for continuous casting of metal, in particular steel, with a metal mold with mold walls (1,18) and a mold cooling device and which can remove high thermal flows and can be subjected to thermal loads and, thereby, is suitable for use at high speeds, at least one mold wall (1,18) of the mold of this device should include a steel wall (2) and a support mesh (3) for this wall and the device further should be provided with magnetic field generator (3.2) for generating a magnetic field (3.1) acting on the mold steel wall (2) via the support mesh (3) for attracting the mold steel wall (2) to the support mesh (3), with the mold cooling device comprising spray cooling means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2002
    Publication date: May 27, 2004
    Inventors: Joachim Schwellenbach, Michael Vonderbank, Fritz-Peter Pleschiutschniggs
  • Publication number: 20040069439
    Abstract: A liquid-cooled mold for a continuous casting of metals, including mold plates made of copper or a copper alloy, which are connected respectively to an adapter plate or a cooling-water tank by clamping bolts. The mold is characterized in that the clamping bolts are fastened to plateau pedestals which project in an island-like manner from the cooling arrangement side of the mold plate, which jut at least partially into a cooling arrangement gap formed between the mold plate and the adapter plate or the cooling-water tank, respectively, and have a streamlined shape adjusted to the flow direction of the cooling arrangement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Publication date: April 15, 2004
    Inventors: Gerhard Hugenschutt, Thomas Rolf, Dietmar Kolbeck, Hans-Gunter Wobker, Dirk Rode, Roland Hauri, Hans-Dirk Piwowar, Hans-Jurgen Hemschemeier
  • Publication number: 20040069440
    Abstract: A liquid-cooled mold for the continuous casting of metals, including mold plates made of copper or a copper alloy, which are supported at their rear on supporting plates by the use of a plurality of bolts. The bolts have bolt heads in the region of the backsides of the supporting plates facing away from the mold plates. Between the bolt heads and the supporting plate an articulation system making possible relative motion between the mold plate and the supporting plates is incorporated, having two articulation members, between which a sliding element is undetachably embedded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Publication date: April 15, 2004
    Inventors: Gerhard Hugenschutt, Thomas Rolf, Dietmar Kolbeck, Hans-Gunter Wobker
  • Publication number: 20040050529
    Abstract: The invention relates to an ingot mould for continuous casting of metal strips or thin slabs, comprising a funnel-shaped, charging area which is tapered to the format of the cast strand, and two ingot mould plates which are deformed in relation to each other and which have curved pouch-type broadside wall sections. According to the invention, the curvature of the curved pouch-type broadside wall sections is elliptical in the cross-section thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2003
    Publication date: March 18, 2004
    Inventors: Egon Evertz, Rolf Seybold
  • Patent number: 6705385
    Abstract: Molds are fabricated having a substrate of high density, high strength ultrafine grained isotropic graphite, and having a mold cavity coated with pyrolytic graphite. The molds may be made by making the substrate (main body) of high density, high strength ultrafine grained isotropic graphite, by, for example, isostatic or vibrational molding, machining the substrate to form the mold cavity, and coating the mold cavity with pyrolytic graphite via a chemical deposition process. The molds may be used to make various metallic alloys such as nickel, cobalt and iron based superalloys, stainless steel alloys, titanium alloys and titanium aluminide alloys into engineering components by melting the alloys in a vacuum or under a low partial pressure of inert gas and subsequently casting the melt in the graphite molds under vacuum or low partial pressure of inert gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2004
    Assignee: Santoku America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjan Ray, Donald W. Scott
  • Publication number: 20040011500
    Abstract: Method for the casting of metallic products on a continuous-casting plant comprising a tundish coated on the inside with a refractory material, characterized in that metal plates are fastened to the surface of the said refractory material prior to the filling of the said tundish with the liquid metal to be cast.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2003
    Publication date: January 22, 2004
    Applicants: USINOR, THYSSEN KRUPP NIROSTA GMBH, VOEST-ALPINE INDUSTRIEANLAGENBAU GMBH & CO.
    Inventors: Jean-Michel Damasse, Gerald Hohenbichler
  • Publication number: 20030230394
    Abstract: A copper casting mold for the continuous casting of steel melts is provided, in the presence of zinc and or sulfur in the thermally most greatly stressed contact region with the steel melt, with an at least single-layer diffusion barrier layer made of at least one metallic/metalloid material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2003
    Publication date: December 18, 2003
    Inventors: Hans-Juergen Hemschemeier, Ralf Rethmann, Juergen Merker, Dirk Rode, Gerhard Hugenschuett, Hark Schulze, Frank Maiwald, Hans-Guenter Wobker
  • Patent number: 6648057
    Abstract: An apparatus for manufacturing semi-finished products and molded articles of metallic materials includes an extruder for producing a flow of the metals, with appliances being connected thereafter for shaping the semi-finished products and the molded articles. The extruder has a screw system consisting of two or more meshing screws. This design has an improved functionality and can produce components with reproducible quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Dworog, Erwin Bürkle, Hans Wobbe, Rainer Zimmet, Jochen Zwiesele
  • Patent number: 6634413
    Abstract: Methods for making various nickel based superalloys into engineering components such as rings, tubes and pipes by melting of the alloys in a vacuum or under a low partial pressure of inert gas and subsequent centrifugal casting of the melt in the graphite molds rotating along its own axis under vacuum or low partial pressure of inert gas are provided. The molds have been fabricated by machining high density, high strength ultrafine grained isotropic graphite, wherein the graphite has been made by isostatic pressing or vibrational molding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2003
    Assignee: Santoku America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjan Ray, Donald W. Scott
  • Publication number: 20030183362
    Abstract: A tundish impact pad formed from refractory material comprising a base having an impact surface which, in use, faces upwardly against a stream of molten metal entering a tundish, a wall extending upwardly from the base around at least a part of the periphery of the impact surface, one or more portions of the upper part of the wall supporting one or more overhangs which project inwardly over the periphery of the base. At least one of said overhangs has at least a part whose under-surface curves or slopes, the curvature or slope lying in a direction along the length of the wall. Preferably the pad has rectangular base and a pair of opposite walls is provided with an overhang that arches upwardly towards the centre of the wall. An overhang on the second pair of walls can be, for example, planar and parallel to the base. The width of the curved or sloping overhangs increases in both directions away from its centre/top.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2003
    Publication date: October 2, 2003
    Inventors: Donald Richard Zacharias, John Morris, Eric Wotsch
  • Patent number: 6612363
    Abstract: A mold for the continuous casting of beam blanks is provided with a casting passage which, as seen in a transverse plane of the mold, has two lateral portions for forming the flanges of a beam blank and a central portion for forming the web of the beam blank. The thickness of the mold wall is reduced in the central portion of the casting passage in order to improve heat transfer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: SMS Demag Inc.
    Inventor: Donald P. Lorento
  • Patent number: 6612361
    Abstract: A substantially rectangular-section casting conduit of an ingot mold, for continuous casting of molten metal, is divided into two portions; a first portion has a variable inner section, by having rounded inner edges with a radius of curvature decreasing gradually in the flow direction of the molten metal along the conduit; the second portion is consecutive with the first portion, and has a constant inner section with rounded inner edges of a predetermined optimum radius of curvature for subsequent rolling operations. The design of the first portion of the casting conduit prevents the metal, as it cools and contracts through the conduit, from detaching from the walls, and in particular from the edges, of the mold, thus enabling an increase in casting speed with no fall in product quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: Europa Metalli S.p.A.
    Inventor: Giovanni Martellucci
  • Patent number: 6609557
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for providing consistent lubricant and/or gas flow through multiple permeable perimeter walls in a casting mold table. One or more of the properties of the perimeter walls indicative of the lubricant flow or gas flow rates through the perimeter walls are pre-determined and the sizing of the surface area of the delivery conduits providing the lubricant or the gas are determined based on a correlation to the properties related to the measured or estimated lubricant flow rate and/or measured or estimated gas flow rates through the perimeter walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2003
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventor: Michael K. Anderson
  • Patent number: 6607021
    Abstract: A radius configuration of a strand guide of a vertical bending caster and including following over another bending zone, transition straightening zone, main radius guide zone, and transition final straightening zone, with the bending zone having at least one first region with a comparatively stronger bend and defined by a curvature formed by a series of continuously smaller, starting from an infinite radius of the vertical section of the strand guide, radii, and a second region adjoining the first region and having a comparatively smoother bend in comparison with that of the first region, and with the transition straightening zone, guide zone, being defined by a curvature with continuously increasing lengths of curvature-forming radii.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: SMS Schloemann-Siemag Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Werner Rahmfeld
  • Publication number: 20030150589
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing thin slabs and to a continuous casting installation for this purpose, having a laterally adjustable mold into which an immersion nozzle protrudes, and in which there is opposite a larger crowned cross section on the charging side a cross section on the strand outlet side which is small and identically crowned in the central region, and having pairs of supporting and guiding rollers which follow the mold and have a caliber adapted to the emerging crowned strand.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2000
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: WERNER RAHMFELD
  • Publication number: 20030150588
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing slabs having a thickness D>100 mm, and at casting speeds v<3 m/min, in a continuous casting installation in which melt is supplied to a permanent mold from a storage reservoir via an immersion nozzle and from which, on the aperture side, a strand shell enclosing a liquid crater is withdrawn into a strand guidance frame, in particular a bow-type continuous casting installation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 1999
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: ULRICH URLAU, HANS JURGEN SCHEMEIT, GERHARD BOCHER, PETER MULLER
  • Publication number: 20030145976
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing slabs from steel, in which the strand leaves a permanent mold with liquid melt enclosed by the strand shell and, in a downstream strand guiding assembly, the gap between guide rollers mounted in stands is set infinitely variably by adjusting elements connecting lower and upper frames, characterized by the following steps:
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 1999
    Publication date: August 7, 2003
    Inventors: HORST VON WYL, INGO SCHUBERT
  • Patent number: 6598660
    Abstract: A casting mold for continuously casting metal has a pouring area having cooled wide sidewalls and cooled narrow sidewalls. The pouring area tapers in a funnel shape in horizons arranged underneath each other in a casting direction to a format of a strand to be cast, wherein the wide sidewalls are sidewall plates having curved contour areas. At least within one height portion of the casting mold the curved contour areas are asymmetrical relative to a line intercepting center points of the narrow sidewalls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: SMS Demag AG and Acciai Speiciali Terni S.p.A.
    Inventors: Jürgen Sucker, Romeo Capotosti
  • Patent number: 6598661
    Abstract: A continuous-casting mold has two parallel and spaced mold end plates having opposite ends and inner and outer faces and two parallel and spaced mold side plates extending generally perpendicular to the end plates, having inner and outer faces, and having opposite ends bearing on the respective side-plate ends. The inner faces form a generally rectangular mold passage having four corners. Respective rigid cooler plates bearing inward on the outer faces of the mold plates have ends at the corners. Respective clamps at the corners engage the cooler-plate ends, press the cooler plates inward on the mold plates, and thereby press the side-plate ends against the end-plate ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: SMS Demag Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Siegbert Schwenecke
  • Patent number: 6585029
    Abstract: A continuous casting mold for continuous casting of a steel billet. Opposite spaced apart wide side walls and opposite spaced apart narrow side walls between the wide side walls and clampable at the wide side walls and also displacable along the wide side walls transversely to the casting direction, the narrow side walls being narrow wedged-shaped in the casting direction. A funnel-shaped pouring-in region defined in the wide side walls. The wide side walls converge in the casting direction. The distance between the wide side walls at the mold end is constant over the entire width of the side walls allowing at least one of the wide side walls is supported to be displaceable and tiltable with respect to the other wide side wall by an adjusting device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Flick, Gernot Lettmayr, Helmut Eidinger, Franz Wimmer, Werner Jahn, Josef Watzinger
  • Publication number: 20030102104
    Abstract: The invention relates to a mold wall for plate molds, tubular molds or similar, especially a broadside wall of a continuous casting mold for steel. The inventive plates consisting of copper or a copper alloy, which are either provided with coolant channels or are in thermally conductive contact with a water tank. Said plates have a surface which comes into direct contact with the steel melt and a protective layer applied to said surface. The wear resistance and mechanical workability are improved as a result of the protective layer consisting of a galvanically manufactured binary or ternary metal alloy dispersion, e.g. based on nickel with intercalated dispersants.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2002
    Publication date: June 5, 2003
    Inventors: Erwin Gnass, Gereon Fehlemann
  • Patent number: 6550527
    Abstract: In a continuous-casting apparatus with a mold-supporting device (4) and a mold (1) mounted to oscillate relative to the supporting device, the mold (1) is supported via guide elements (7, 10) extending approximately transversely to the direction of oscillation arranged approximately parallel to one another and, relative to the direction of oscillation (III), at a distance (12) one above the other. At least one first guide element (7) extends from the mold-supporting device (4) towards the mold (1) in a first direction (I) and at least one second guide element (10) extends from the mold-supporting device (4) towards the mold (I) in a direction (II) opposite to the first direction (I).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrienlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Heinrich Thoene, Klaus Schoenhuber, Franz Wimmer
  • Patent number: 6546992
    Abstract: For the working of walls which bound the cavity of a continuous casting mold, a machine is used which incorporates machining and/or polishing tools. The machine consists of a machine tool table with an arm introducible into the cavity for the supporting of the tools and a table for the clamping of the mold, as well as devices for generating a numerically controlled relative movement between the tools and the walls. In order to obtain a high accuracy in the working also in the case of a cavity with a conicity varying in longitudinal direction and/or along the peripheral line of a cross-section or in the case of a cavity with special corner configurations, it is proposed that a rotational movement of the tools about axes which are arranged substantially obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the arm be combined with a swivelling movement of the arm about its longitudinal axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Concast Standard AG
    Inventor: Christian Reusset
  • Publication number: 20020185253
    Abstract: The invention provides a build-up mold for continuous casting that can be produced at low costs by simplifying cumbersome positioning operations when milling or cutting slit grooves in a copper plate that becomes a cooling plate, is able of making uniform the cooling efficiency over the entirety of the cooling plate by adjusting pressure loss and flow amount of cooling water flowing into the respective slit grooves, and is able to prevent break-out and defects of molded pieces in continuous casting of molten metal without generating strains in the cooling plate, wherein the yield of molded pieces can be improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2002
    Publication date: December 12, 2002
    Applicant: JAPAN ENGINEERING NETWORK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsukasa Yamasaki, Yasuhiko Kinoshita, Takaharu Tagashira
  • Patent number: 6474401
    Abstract: A continuous casting mold for manufacturing slabs, particularly for manufacturing thin slabs includes water-cooled short side walls and long side walls, wherein a casting funnel is formed between the long side walls in an area where the long side walls extend parallel to each other and extend outwardly toward the two short side walls and cooling grooves are provided on the other outer or rearward sides of the long side walls. The rearward sides of the long side walls are each reinforced by a wall armor starting at a mold location below the lowest molten metal level, wherein the thickness of the wall armor decreases in the strand casting direction from a greatest thickness at the mold location below the lowest molten metal level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: SMS Schloemann-Siemag Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Hans Streubel
  • Patent number: 6467533
    Abstract: Among the slab-supporting guide roll pairs disposed in the region in which a liquid core exists within the slab, at least four consecutive guide roll pairs are disposed under such conditions that the roll axis-to-axis distances on the fixed side and loose side of the guide roll pairs and the roll halfway-to-halfway distances on the fixed side and loose side are all different from one another. Casting is carried out while disposing the guide roll pairs under sucb conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiko Murakami, Masahiko Oka, Hirohisa Kikuchi, Atsushi Murata, Takashi Usui
  • Patent number: 6463995
    Abstract: A device for continuous or semi-continuous casting of metal has a cooled continuous casting mold assembly and an inductive coil arranged at the top end of the mold assembly. The mold assembly is divided into at least two mold assembly parts separated and electrically insulated from each other by partitions, which are oriented in the casting direction and where each partition is formed with an electrically insulating barrier. Each mold assembly part has a mold part associated with a corresponding mechanically supporting mold back-up structure part, and an electrical conductor, with an electrical conductivity higher than the electrical conductivity of the back-up structure. The conductor is arranged with the mold back-up structure part on the side of the mold back-up structure part facing away from the mold, the outside face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2002
    Assignee: ABB AB
    Inventors: Anders Lehman, Erik Svensson, Tord Kroon
  • Patent number: 6443218
    Abstract: An outer peripheral groove is provided at a distance from the top front end of the tube wall of a tubular mold. Into this peripheral groove grip, from opposing sides, U-shaped flanges having inner latching segments are inserted. The radial extension of the latching segments is smaller than the depth of the peripheral groove. Provided adjacently to the top front end is a circumferential recess, on which a reinforcement frame, which is able to be screw-coupled to the flanges and which braces against the flange of the water tank, and which can be located in position with an exact fit, while being sealed off. When the tubular mold is recalibrated, in particular using the explosive reforming method, the wall thickness is reduced, so that it is then necessary to rework the recess. One merely needs to put a new reinforcement frame in place and screw it tightly in place via the flanges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: KM Europa Metal AG
    Inventor: Wolfgang Hörnschemeyer
  • Patent number: 6427757
    Abstract: A molten metal casting annulus comprising an insert support and cooling frame and a multiplicity of graphite casting annulus insert components supported entirely without clamping on said insert support and cooling frame and a method manufacturing the same are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Inventor: Ravindra V. Tilak
  • Patent number: 6419004
    Abstract: A mold for hot-top vertical continuous casting of metals includes a feed head (8) made of a thermally insulating refractory material which surmounts a cooled copper crystallizer (9) and is internally aligned with a cooled copper element (14) of the cooled copper crystallizer (9) in order to define a calibrating passage for the cast metal. The copper element (14) is formed by an assembly of plates, some of which, termed “large walls”, are each held against a reinforcing backplate (16) to which it is rigidly fastened by a clamp (22), the shape of which is elongate in the width direction of the large wall and which goes over the top of the large wall and its associated backplate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2002
    Assignee: Usinor
    Inventors: Jean-Marc Jolivet, Roger Kraemer, Hervé Morand, Cosimo Salaris, Jacques Barbe
  • Patent number: 6390177
    Abstract: An improved mould for the continuous casting of steel slabs having thickness in the range from 50-120 mm, particularly suitable to be rolled to thin strips, presents two large faces (F), each one having in horizontal cross section a concave or rectilinear central zone symmetrical with respect to each other, connected at both sides to the narrow faces (f) through concave-convex wide bends with respect to the internal part of the mould, without other lengths being parallel to opposite portions of the other face (F), besides to a possible central rectilinear length. the radiuses of the concave portion (r1) and of the convex portion (r2) are in a mutual ratio of a range from 0.6 to 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Inventors: Giovanni Arvedi, Mario Caldonazzo, Luciano Manini, Andrea Bianchi, Angelo Visigalli
  • Patent number: 6390176
    Abstract: A funnel geometry of a mold for the continuous casting of metal, wherein the mold has a pouring portion with cooled long side walls and short side walls, wherein the pouring portion becomes narrower in the shape of a funnel in the casting direction until it reaches the size of the cast strand. In the funnel portion the inner contour of the long side walls is constructed convexly along a straight line connecting the upper edge of the mold and the outlet of the pouring portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignees: SMS Schloemann-Siemag Aktiengesellschaft, Acciai Speciali Terni S.p.A.
    Inventors: Jürgen Sucker, Romeo Capotosti
  • Patent number: 6383663
    Abstract: A casting-die body (1) made of a hardenable copper alloy is provided with an inner wear-protective layer (7) of chromium whose hardness decreases from the billet-side surface (8) in the direction of the casting-die body (1). The wear-protective layer (7) is made up of two chromium layers (9, 10). For this purpose, the casting-die body (1) is given a solution heat treatment, is chromium plated, and is then hardened, as a result of which the initially very great hardness of the chromium layer (9) is reduced. The hardness of the chromium layer (9) then is about 650 HV. Subsequently, to increase the wear protection, the second chromium layer (10) is applied. The result is a conventional chromium-plated layer having a hardness of between 850 HV and 1050 HV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: KM Europa Metal AG
    Inventors: Dirk Rode, Hans-Jürgen Hemschemeier, Ralf Rethmann
  • Patent number: 6382304
    Abstract: A process for producing slabs in a continuous casting installation and a continuous casting mold, in particular for the continuous casting of steel slabs, having wide side walls and narrow side walls which delimit the slab mold cavity least one of the wide side walls movable transversely with respect to the mold axis and at least one of the narrow side walls, which can be clamped in between the wide side walls, displaceable transversely with respect to the mold axis in order to change the shape of the strand cross section by an adjustment drive acting in the horizontal direction. Each narrow side is composed of at least two wedge-shaped parts. Mutually facing contact surfaces extend over the entire length (height of the narrow side wall) of each part and the plane of the mutually touching surfaces faces in substantially the same direction as the corresponding wide side inner surfaces (51, 52) assigned to one another with a rotational angle of &ggr;=0 to 30°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: SMS Demag AG
    Inventor: Ulrich Genge
  • Patent number: 6378598
    Abstract: The present invention provides an improvement to the plates for the side containing in apparatuses for the continuous casting of thin flat products, said plates comprising: at least one insert (8) of a ceramic material; a plurality of joints (11) for the thermal expansion, the joints being constituted of a ceramic fibers material; a first casting (9) of a silica-alumina material containing ceramic fibers; a second casting (10) of a silica-alumina material having a high content of ZrO2; and a third casting (12) of a SiC-based thixotropic material; the arrangement being such that said at least a ceramic insert is arranged on said third casting (12) of a thixotropic material so that it assumes a substantially triangular shape, said first silica-alumina casting (9) based on a ceramic fibers material is arranged on said third casting (12) at the exterior area with respect to said at least a ceramic insert, said second casting (10) of silica-alumina material having a high contents of ZrO2 is arranged on said third
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignees: Aociai Speciali Terni S.p.A., Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Riccardo Tonelli, Giuseppe Guasto
  • Publication number: 20020043356
    Abstract: A continuous-casting mold has two parallel and spaced mold end plates having opposite ends and inner and outer faces and two parallel and spaced mold side plates extending generally perpendicular to the end plates, having inner and outer faces, and having opposite ends bearing on the respective side-plate ends. The inner faces form a generally rectangular mold passage having four corners. Respective rigid cooler plates bearing inward on the outer faces of the mold plates have ends at the corners. Respective clamps at the corners engage the cooler-plate ends, press the cooler plates inward on the mold plates, and thereby press the side-plate ends against the end-plate ends.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2001
    Publication date: April 18, 2002
    Applicant: SMS DEMAG AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventor: Siegbert Schwenecke
  • Patent number: 6367539
    Abstract: Crystalliser for continuous casting of billets and blooms, including a monolithic tubular structure whose transverse section defines the section shape of the cast product, said tubular structure including a wall defined by an outer face and an inner face located in contact with the cast metal, said crystalliser including holes for the transit of cooling liquid, made in the thickness of the wall of the monolithic tubular structure, said holes being made on said wall in such a manner that the distance (“d”) between their longitudinal axis and the inner face of the wall of the crystalliser is between 5 and 20 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche SpA
    Inventors: Alfredo Poloni, Milorad Pavlicevic, Nuredin Kapaj
  • Publication number: 20020038697
    Abstract: Device and corresponding method for the continuous casting of molten materials, comprising a vertical duct having the shape of a funnel made of refractory material for receiving molten material, and a second duct where the molten material is cooled off, the two ducts being set one on top of the other and being axially aligned. The molten material is injected into the channel, around a stretch of which electromagnetic means are set for generating magnetic forces on the molten material, the said means consisting of a plurality of windings of electrically conductive material and of a ferromagnetic core and may be electrically supplied to produce a magnetic flux along the direction of the channel, thus producing a set of forces acting on the molten material which are directed orthogonally with respect to the direction of the said magnetic flux so as to maintain detachment of the outer surface of the molten material from the walls of the channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2001
    Publication date: April 4, 2002
    Inventors: Alfredo Poloni, Milorad Pavlicevic, Anatoly Kolesnichenko, Andrea Codutti
  • Patent number: 6354358
    Abstract: To provide a novel casting mold for use in continuous casting, which has long life and excellent heat resistance, yet capable of completely preventing corrosion, which frequently occurs on the lower portion of the casting mold. A continuous casting mold for steel made from copper or a copper alloy, wherein said casting mold comprises a plane in contact with molten steel partly or wholly covered with a tungsten alloy plating containing either or both of nickel and cobalt, and said plating containing tungsten carbide forming a solid solution therewith. To produce the casting mold above, there is used a plating solution containing either or both of a nickel salt and a cobalt salt and a tungstate, together with at least one selected from an oxycarboxylic acid and salts thereof, and at least one type of an organic compound and salts thereof having two or less of carbon atoms within the molecule, provided that its oxidation decomposition potential is lower than that of the oxycarboxylic acid or a salt thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: Nomura Plating Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kohei Ishida
  • Patent number: RE37939
    Abstract: A molten metal casting annulus comprising an insert support and cooling frame and a multiplicity of graphite casting annulus insert components supported entirely without clamping on said inset support and cooling frame and a method manufacturing the same are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2002
    Inventor: Ravindra V Tilak