Abstract: A continuous-casting apparatus in which the cover over the mold has an opening whose boundaries or inner edges are rounded and whose corners are rounded. The walls bounding the opening in the cover overlie and mate, as precisely as practicable, with the walls bounding the opening in the mold through which the molten metal flows. In addition, the surfaces of the walls which bound the opening of the cover and the adjacent surfaces of the cover have a fine finish and are coated with friction reducing and molten-metal adhesion-reducing material. The mating of the portions of the walls, the rounded inner edges and corners and the coating suppresses adhesion of spattered molten metal to the walls of the cover.

Abstract: A shroud for enshrouding, in a shield of anti-oxidation gas, the molten stream which flows from the tundish into the mold and/or from the ladle into the tundish of continuous casting apparatus. The shroud includes a platform from which there extends a projection having the shape of a frustrum of a circular cone terminating in a circular opening. The shroud is formed from a plate having an opening therein by hydraulically deep drawing the material around the opening. A nipple is provided in the projection for injecting the anti-oxidation gas. In contrast to the flow of the gas in the use of prior-art shrouds, the gas, in the practice of this invention, flows in a helical or cyclonic path about the molten stream and effectively protects the stream against oxidation.