Abstract: Machine for direct rolling of a steel casting from the continuous casting process and producing a steel product therefrom characterized in that the continuous casting machine is provided with an air-water mist cooling means having a selective cooling function and a heat-retention means, and a quick heating means for the edge portions of the steel casting if necessary, and a scale breaker are installed at the inlet of a rough rolling stand, whereby direct rolling without further surface treatment of the steel casting is made feasible.

Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for vertical, semi-continuous direct chill casting of light metal fabricating ingots of particularly, though not exclusively, lithium containing aluminium and magnesium alloys, through an open mould into a pit, comprising commencing the casting without a pool of water within the pit, supplying cooling water to the emergent ingot at a predetermined rate and continuously removing water from the pit as casting continues at a rate sufficient to ensure that no build up of a pool of water in the pit occurs, whereby the risk of violent and damaging explosion is further reduced.

Abstract: A method is provided for optimally operating a wheel-type continuous caster such that solidification porosity and macrosegregation in the continuous strand thus produced is substantially minimized while casting speed is substantially maximized subject to that condition. Continuous casting is adjusted from an operational condition where solidification porosity is forming by changing the solidification rate so as to cause the terminus of the solidification zone to shift location in the direction of increasing metalostatic pressure until the point where solidification porosity ceases to form or its occurrence is minimized; further provided that in the vicinity of the solidification terminus the direction of increasing metalostatic pressure is maintained counter to the direction of casting.

Abstract: An aftercooler for a horizontal continuous casting system is comprised of a plurality of individual cooling elements adapted to be positioned in contact with the strand after it leaves the mold. Each of the cooling elements has a passage for the flow of a fluid cooling medium through it and either or both of the contact pressure of the element against the strand and the flow rate of cooling medium may be adjusted to control the rate of cooling to suit the solidification characteristics of the metal being cast. Preferably, a plurality of sets of cooling elements are sequentially disposed along the length of the strand immediately downstream of the mold, each of the sets being disposed circumferentially around the strand so as to cool it on all sides. Control of the contact pressure and cooling medium flow rate is effected by a computer which compares measured values of cooling medium temperatures and flow rates in the elements with stored data representing desired characteristics for the metal being cast.

Abstract: In regulating the flow of cooling water sprayed upon a metallurgical product such as a steel slab in a machine for the continuous casting of such products which then undergo a straightening operation, the present, past and future speeds of the product are taken into account so as to compensate a projected change in the temperature of the product in the straightening stage, due to a planned or expected modification of the cooling conditions. These conditions are established by a regulating system responsive to changes in the speed of the product; the anticipated temperature change is compensated by substituting for the true speed, as a controlling parameter, a fictitious speed lying between the true speed and an advance image of an anticipated speed change whose effects upon the temperature are to be neutralized.

Abstract: An apparatus and process electromagnetically forms feed ribbon or rod material into a desired thin strip shape. Inductors contain and form the material in molten form into the desired shape. There are at least an upstream and downstream inductor for applying the magnetic field to the molten material. Both the upstream and downstream inductors may be jointly used to contain and form the molten material into the thin strip shape. An alternating current is applied to the inductors to generate the magnetic field. This magnetic field defines a containment zone for the molten material and a gap between the molten material and the inductors. The current is applied to the inductors so that the gap remains substantially constant. The feed material has an upstream and a downstream liquid-solid interface adjacent the upstream and downstream inductors, respectively, which define the molten material head and solid material portions of the material.

Abstract: To permit a method of controlling the cooling of a cast product in a continuous casting installation to be effected at the beginning of casting, it is proposed to calculate periodically the value of the quantity of cooling water delivered at the start of casting to one of the cooling sections between the moments when an end of the cast product enters and leaves the one cooling section, the latter value being calculated by integrating the values of the quantities of cooling water calculated for the elements in the one cooling section and a fictitious portion of the cast product occupying a part of this one section between a downstream end thereof and the end of the cast product, said fictitious portion having a fictitious age determined as a function of the position of said portion in the casting installation and a fictitious extraction speed equal to the average of the average extraction speeds of the fictitious elements of the cast product in the one cooling section.

Abstract: The cooling of a cast steel slab in a continuous casting installation is controlled by dividing the cast product into successive fictitious elements and periodically calculating the water flow values of the cooling water delivered to the successive cooling sections in the secondary cooling zone of the installation as a function of the age of the elements in these sections. The quantity of heat extracted in the mold is taken into account by periodically determining the water flow values in the different zones by means of a computer on the basis of a first curve giving the variations of the quantity of heat extracted from a unitary mass of the cast product as a function of the time while the cast product passes from the point of emergence from the mold to at least the zone of solidification, and a second curve giving the variations of the surface temperature of the cast product during this passage as a function of time.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the direct chill casting of non-ferrous metals comprises varying the chill depth of the mould independently of the level or quantity of liquid metal in the mould by relatively moving the mould and a "hot-top" which may be a sleeve of refractory material during the casting, which may comprise semi-automatic or automatic casting.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for electromagnetic continuous or semicontinuous casting of metals and alloys. A variable coolant application system is used to control the rate of heat extraction from the casting to properly position the solidification front at the surface of the casting without otherwise influencing the containment process through modification of the magnetic field.

Abstract: A method for controlling a casting and rolling mill by measuring the speed of a cast strip between the casting machine and the first following rolling mill and regulating the speed of the casting machine directly proportional to the measured speed of the cast strip. It is thus possible to avoid auxiliary equipment required in prior art systems such as pinch rolls and a continuous furnace between the casting machine and the first following rolling mill. Furthermore no loop on the cast strip is required. As a result, great reductions in capital expenditures, the energy required to operate the line and the necessary space can be obtained.

Abstract: Breakouts due to insufficient skin thickness exiting below caster mold are prevented. Minimum mold heat removal rate is defined in terms of casting speed, mold faces, mold size, material grade and tundish superheat, then calculated, indicated and compared to actual measured values of heat removal rate. As a result of the comparison, caster preset speed correction is taken to automatically maintain the mold heat removal rate above the minimum level where breakouts occur.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for secondary cooling of a metal strand particularly of steel by the quantity-controlled spraying of a coolant in individual cooling areas by means of nozzles on areal portions of the strand surface, which as a consequence of the strand advance are intermittently cooled in the sprayed areal portions and reheated in the unsprayed portions by the continuing heat flow from the inside of the strand, whereby the coolant quantities which are fed to the nozzles of the individual cooling areas are controlled according to predetermined values. The coolant quantity per unit time Q.sub.t (l/min) fed to each nozzle proportionally to the strand advance speed is controlled according to predetermined values of the coolant quantity Q.sub.S (l/m.sup.2) which is fed to each strand surface unit by a nozzle. The coolant quantity Q.sub.

Abstract: In continuously casting molten steel at least a pair of rolls is disposed near the leading end of the crater at which solidification of the molten steel in the cast piece completes so as to roll the cast piece at a reduction rate of from 0.1 to 2.0%. The variation in the thickness of the cast piece is detected and compared with a definite reference value for controlling the drawing speed and or the quantity of the secondary cooling water.