Abstract: A method and apparatus for maintaining a constant ejection pressure in a melt spinning process for converting a molten metal into a metal foil of a uniform thickness. The backpressure exerted against inert gas being injected into the bottom of a crucible containing molten metal is monitored. Any negative rate change in the backpressure is noted and the gas overpressure in the crucible is then increased to return the back-pressure to its original value. In another embodiment the gas flow rate of the inert gas is monitored. Any positive rate change in the flow rate is noted and the gas overpressure is then increased to return the flow rate of the gas back to normal. This maintains a constant ejection pressure of molten metal passing through the orifice of the crucible producing foil with a uniform thickness.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process and apparatus for the casting of metal strands, more particularly in the form of strips. The molten metal emerging from a slotted die 2 is applied to the cooling surface of a cooling member 1 which is moved past the slotted die 2. Allowing for the law of solidification, at the start of casting the strip outlet side die lip is gradually increased from a minimum distance from the cooling surface to the required final distance in such a way that the free gap between the wedge-shaped developing solidification front of the cast strip 7 and the die lip 5 remains small enough to prevent the molten metal from flowing out through the gap in an uncontrolled manner. The end face edge of the slotted die 2 can be borne via one or more gas cushions on the cooling surface and the free surface of the cast strand.

Abstract: A mold for the continuous casting of metal to a sheet-like strand is provided with a casting passage having a slot-shaped outlet end. The inlet end of the casting passage is considerably wider, and has a much larger area, than the outlet end. This facilitates pouring of molten metal into the mold and permits the use of casting techniques such as shrouding which enhance the continuous casting process and/or the quality of the strand. The cross-sectional area of the casting passage decreases progressively from the area at the inlet end to that at the outlet end over at least a portion of the length of the mold. The perimeter of the casting passage, however, remains at least approximately constant as the area decreases. This enables the strand to be drawn through the mold without difficulty. A continuous casting method involves pouring molten metal into a casting passage, and partially solidifying the molten metal to form a strand which is drawn through the casting passage.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for casting rapidly solidified metal ingots wherein molten metal is centrifugally formed into molten droplets that are rapidly solidified under controlled conditions into metal particles which are cast against a rotating mold cavity within which the metal particles are consolidated into an ingot to be subsequently worked to a billet.

Abstract: A continuous casting furnace for manufacturing an elongated cast product, for example, of copper or its alloy includes a housing defining a chamber. A crucible is accommodated within the chamber for holding a casting material. A heater is mounted on the crucible for melting the casting material. A generally vertically-disposed elongated casting nozzle hermetically extends into the chamber. One of the casting nozzle and the crucible is movable toward the other for immersing a lower end of the casting nozzle in the molten casting material in the crucible. The housing is connected to an inert gas source for introducing inert gas into the chamber when the casting material in the crucible is melted. When the lower end of the casting nozzle is immersed in the molten casting material, the molten casting material is moved along the casting nozzle by the pressure of the inert gas in the chamber.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for casting metal strip include a moving chill body that has a quench surface. A nozzle mechanism deposits a stream of molten metal on a quenching region of the quench surface to form the strip. The nozzle mechanism has an exit portion with a nozzle orifice. A depletion mechanism heats a gas to lower the density thereof and to produce a low-density atmosphere. The gas is supplied to a depletion region located adjacent to and upstream of the quenching region to provide the low density atmosphere within the depletion region.

Abstract: An apparatus for casting metal strip includes a nozzle having an orifice for depositing a stream of molten metal onto a casting region of a moving chill surface. A conditioning shoe is located generally upstream from the nozzle in a direction opposite to the direction of chill surface movement to delimit a conditioning chamber. The conditioning chamber communicates directly with the nozzle orifice and borders at least three sidelines of the chill surface casting portion. A shield for minimizing an intrusion of ambient atmosphere into the conditioning chamber and for deflecting an entrained gas boundary layer carried along by the chill surface is cooperatively connected to the conditioning shoe. Gas control provides a selected, low density atmosphere, such as a partial vacuum, within the conditioning chamber.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for feeding and continuously casting molten metal are described in which inert gas is applied to the moving mold surfaces and to the entering metal for the protection or shrouding of the molten metal surface within the mold cavity from oxygen and other detrimental atmospheric gases. The shrouding is by means of inert gas injected into the mold through a semi-sealing nosepiece, or directed at the mold cavity and passing through the necessary slight gaps around the nosepiece. At the same time, such inert gas is further circulated by channeling or shielding the circulated gas for blanketing and diffusing of the inert gas along the moving mold surfaces for cleansing them of undesired accompanying gases, such as atmospheric oxygen, water vapor, sulphur dioxide, carbonic acid gas, etc. as the mold surfaces approach the nosepiece before entering the mold region.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of continuously casting metal rods wherein the metal is forced to pass through an elongate tube while in a molten state, a cooling medium is circulated about the tube and the metal as it emerges from the tube in order to form a continuous cast rod, and the rod is passed through a bath of another metal whose temperature is sufficiently lower than the melting point of the rod to cool the rod below its critical temperature.

Abstract: A process for treatment of a liquid mass is described, wherein a liquid mass of a material is separated from a gas-permeable wall for shaping, positioning or moulding the same by means of a gaseous film formed by a gas permeating through a wall of the container.

Abstract: Material is supplied from a pressure hopper made to have an inert gas atmosphere to each of a plurality of melting furnaces one after another in a predetermined amount each time. The interior atmosphere of each melting furnace is replaced by an inert gas, and the material is melted in the melting furnace by heating. The resulting molten metal is supplied from one of the melting furnaces after another to a discharge container having a discharge nozzle and made to have an inert gas atmosphere, and is continuously discharged from the discharge nozzle against a rapid quenching device.

Abstract: Molten steel, normally exposed to an atmosphere of air, is protected against pick-up of impurities by placing carbon dioxide gas in such quantities and in such proximity to the surface to cause dissociation of the carbon dioxide at a rate which furnishes an atmosphere of carbon monoxide and gives off a negligible amount of oxygen to the steel, thus providing a gas barrier or shroud isolating the steel from the surrounding atmosphere and preventing pick-up therefrom of oxygen, nitrogen or hydrogen. This method may be applied to protecting steel being transferred from a ladle to a mold, or from a ladle to a tundish and from the tundish to a mold in continuous casting. In a method where a number of shrouding operations are carried out in series, carbon dioxide vapor, under pressure, is bled, in increments, from a storage vessel containing a body of liquid carbon dioxide in overlying ullage space containing vapor.

Abstract: A method for adding reactive metals to steel being continuously cast to eliminate the problem of tundish nozzle plugging is provided by the steps of continuously casting molten steel through a tundish nozzle while introducing a reactive metal into the molten steel in a form and at a point either above or below the tundish nozzle such that high melting oxides and/or oxysulfides of the reactive metal are not formed in an amount sufficient to cause plugging in the nozzle before passing through the nozzle. A flux can be introduced with the alloy or subsequent to the alloy addition that can lower the melting point of the reactive products below the temperature of the steel going through the tundish nozzle.

Abstract: A nozzle for continuous casting which is capable of uniformly supplying a required amount of gas to the inner wall surface thereof by providing a plurality of communication holes inside the nozzle body between the inner surface thereof and a gas pressure balance chamber disposed inside the nozzle body so as to communicate the chamber with the inner surface, the communication hole having a square measure corresponding to that of a circular hole having a diameter of 1.0 mm or less, and preferably between 0.03 and 0.5 mm. The nozzle body is comprised of a material having 20% or less porosity and containing 50% or more open pores, each having a diameter of 5 .mu.m or less.

Abstract: A method for continuously casting lithium-containing alloys by a direct chill process includes cooling the alloy to form a continuous ingot having a solid shell, further cooling the ingot by direct chill with an organic coolant, and inhibiting fire by covering the coolant with fire retardant atmosphere.

Abstract: An apparatus for screening a stream of molten metal has a bellows. An annular distribution chamber for protective gas to be blown into an area traversed by the stream of molten metal is provided inside the bellows. That annular chamber is inwardly delimited by a flexible screening shroud of heat-resistant, gas-permeable material encompassing the area traversed by the stream of molten metal and being inwardly spaced from the bellows. Corresponding ends of the bellows and shroud are gas-tightly interconnected. The screening shroud surrounding the pouring stream at a distance protects the bellows from metal splashes and screen it also from heat that is radiating from the pouring stream.

Abstract: A method of rapidly solidifying thin metallic strips, comprising projecting a jet of molten metal or alloy under reduced atmospheric pressure onto a cold substrate moving at high speed, thereby forming the strip in contact with the substrate, and then bringing the strip rapidly into higher atmospheric pressure. Forming the strip on the substrate under reduced atmospheric pressure improves the quality of the edges and surface of the strip, while bringing the strip rapidly into higher atmospheric pressure improves the adherence of the strip to the substrate. If the strip is brought into higher atmospheric pressure before its temperature falls to the temperature of vitrification, the properties of the vitreous metal formed, including its ductility, are also improved, because of the more rapid passage through the temperature range above the vitrification temperature than if the metal were cooled under reduced pressure.

Abstract: A process for treatment of a liquid mass is described, wherein a liquid mass of a material is separated from a gas-permeable wall for shaping, positioning or moulding the same by means of a gaseous film formed by a gas permeating through a wall of the container.

Abstract: A molten metal stream is fed downwardly, especially essentially vertically, into a double-ended, chilled horizontal mold where the molten metal is formed into two strands which are cooled and simultaneously bidirectionally withdrawn from opposed ends of the horizontal mold. The infed hot molten metal stream is deposited within the double-ended horizontal mold such that a so-to-speak hot wall forms at the immediate vicinity of the inflow region where the molten metal enters the horizontal mold. This hot wall precludes formation of a strand shell or skin which otherwise would undesirably interconnect the two formed strands, so that not only is the resistance to mold oscillation decreased, but the individual strands can be cleanly withdrawn from each side of the mold without the danger of undesired and uncontrolled interaction arising between the two withdrawn strands and without the need to have to rupture any such interconnecting strand shell or skin.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for pouring molten metal in a neutral atmosphere into an ingot mold, a trumpet funnel for bottom poured ingots or a tundish box for a continuous caster or like vessel is disclosed wherein the receiving vessel is closed about a ceramic sleeve through which the molten metal is poured and wherein the normal atmosphere is replaced by vaporized hexamethylene or cyclohexane as it is sometimes called. The closure about the ceramic sleeve through which the molten metal is introduced into the receiving vessel is positioned on top of the receiving vessel and supports the ceramic sleeve and is provided with break lines or scores that permit the edge portions of the sheet-like closure to be moved in hinged relation thereto when the sheet-like closure is pushed downwardly into the receiving vessel to a point on or near the surface of the molten metal.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for removing fine cold shut cracks on a horizontally and continuously cast steel strand, using ejection of a plurality of metal shots, comprises: horizontally and intermittently withdrawing a cast steel strand from a horizontal mold by a plurality of cycles each comprising a pull and a push, cooling the cast steel strand in a cooling zone provided following the horizontal mold on the same horizontal level as that of the horizontal mold, increasing the temperature of the surface portion of the solidified shell of the cast steel strand in a heat-restoring zone provided following the cooling zone on the same horizontal level as that of the cooling zone, to soften the surface portion of the solidified shell of the cast steel strand, and then continuously ejecting a plurality of metal shots from a plurality of shooters in a shooting zone provided following the heat-restoring zone on the same horizontal level as that of the heat-restoring zone onto the cast steel strand, to weld fine cold

Abstract: To produce tubes of reactive metals, a melt (14) is removed from the annu gap (13) of a crucible (10). The temperature of the melt (14) is such as to ensure the formation of the solidus-liquidus zone (33) directly behind the annular gap (13), a planar solidification front (34) being created in a non supported region which is not exposed to the direct influence of a cooling means. In the subsequent region, the oriented solidification of the tube with high temperature gradients is realized, and the tube can be shaped or adjusted free of thermal influences. Only thereafter, the tube (25) is exposed to the action of cooling means (26, 31) to cool it without contact. In such a way, it is possible to produce tubes having a high stability and resistance to temperatures for use in turbines, heat exchangers or the like.

Abstract: A leaded, free-cutting steel is manufactured by a continuous casting process without causing any pollution of the environment or manufacturing apparatus by toxic gases or fumes and in a high yield of lead addition with a high quality, wherein lead, lead alloy, or a composite lead feed material comprising lead or lead alloy covered with a metallic material harmless for the steel such as, for example, aluminum or iron, is directly added to molten steel which is being electromagnetically stirred in the horizontal direction in a mold.

Abstract: A method for making metallic glass powder is disclosed, which involves atomizing a jet of molten glass forming metal alloy by impinging with a moving body to form a stream of discrete molten droplets of the metal alloy, followed by impinging that stream on a travelling chill surface to effect rapid solidification of the molten droplets. The powder can be fabricated into solid articles.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for alloying continuously cast steel products wherein a wire of alloying material, e.g. lead, is fed through the center of the stopper rod to its nose where the wire melts and dissolves into the stream of liquid steel flowing out of the tundish. The guide passage for the wire and a cooperating hole in the nose of the stopper rod are temporarily closed by heat meltable means which prevents steel from entering and clogging the hole in the passage before a steady-state flow condition is achieved.

Abstract: A casting tube 8 of a refractory material comprises at its upper end a series of openings for the injection of a protective gas, for example argon, to create an atmosphere which protects the incoming molten metal against oxidation and cools the walls of the casting tube. The injection openings are grooves 11 formed in an upper frustoconical part of the casting tube, whose outer surface defines a fixing collar. These grooves are interconnected by an annular passage 12.

Abstract: A continuous casting process and apparatus for feeding a molten metal into a mold from a metal supply system through a metal feeding duct, effecting a stepwise withdrawal of a continuous strand or casting from the mold for a measured length and simultaneously feeding a molten metal into the latter, producing a superpressure on the forming skin of casting at the side of molten metal at intervals between the casting withdrawal cycles. On completion of the withdrawal cycle, the molten metal is fed from the metal supply system to an auxiliary vessel prefilled with an inert gas, whereupon a preset pressure is built up in the molten metal inside the auxiliary vessel and in the casting being formed. Next, the molten metal is moved to and fro between the auxiliary vessel and the metal feeding duct of the metal supply system. As the casting is withdrawn from the mold for a given length, the molten metal is concurrently fed into the mold from the auxiliary vessel and from the metal supply system.

Abstract: A nozzle is provided having an elongated conduit extending therethrough for delivering molten metal below the surface of a pool of molten material. The nozzle includes facilities for passing a fluid medium, e.g., argon, through its wall members transverse to the direction of molten metal flow into the elongated conduit to retard the accumulation of undesirable formations, e.g., metal oxides, on the inner wall surfaces of the conduit during molten metal flow. In a first embodiment, gas permeable wall members define portions of the conduit through which the fluid medium percolates. In a second embodiment, a plurality of small ports are provided in the wall members defining the conduit through which the fluid medium is emitted in the conduit. Preferably, the nozzle also includes a base portion that directs the molten metal flow in an upwardly direction and which has facilities for retarding the accumulation of undesirable formations thereon.

Abstract: Iron or steel products are produced from oxide ores in a unique process which utilizes air and regular coal as its primary energy source and wherein the ore is melted in a carbon dioxide zone for separation and absorption of the iron oxides into a slag which is transferred to a carbon-monoxide generating zone. In the latter zone the iron oxides are reduced to form the iron or steel product. Carbon monoxide containing flue gas from the latter zone is burned with air and utilized as a heat source in the carbon dioxide zone. Slag from the various unit processes is collected and used to preheat process air by either continuous operation or in a semi-continuous regeneration process. In both modes of slag preheating, flue gas is utilized to maintain the temperature of the slag bath and high temperature air preheating prior to the slag bath.

Abstract: A process for casting a material comprising a coolant application device comprising a fluidized bed cooling system. A control system for the fluidized bed cooling system determines the most upstream position at which the fluidized bed contacts the material being cast. The control system is adapted to adjust the pressure differential between the gas used to fluidized the bed of particles and an opposing gas flow. The casting system may be a continuous or semi-continuous one and preferably employs an electromagnetic mold.

Abstract: A process for casting a material comprising a casting system for said material including a coolant application device. The coolant application device comprises a fluidized bed cooling system. The casting system may be a continuous or semi-continuous one and preferably employs an electromagnetic mold.

Abstract: In submerged teeming operations the extended pouring tube which receives molten metal from a vessel via a nozzle has gas admitted thereto for protecting it against molten metal attack. A union block is sandwiched between the nozzle and pouring tube, block being surrounded by a metal jacket spaced therefrom to form a gas manifold to be fed with gas via a gas supply pipe. Gas admitted to the manifold is ejected, around the lower end of the union block, by a surrounding annular orifice into the pouring tube and flows downwardly along the wall thereof as a protective gas film.

Abstract: Steel powders are added to steel in a stream of inert gas introduced into the ladle above the casting mold, at a point near the exit of the steel from the ladle. The powders are thus entrained in the metal entering the mold and dissolve therein. The lance that injects the powders may also plug the ladle outlet. The powders can be used not only to perform their cooling function but also to introduce alloying elements.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the direct chill casting of non-ferrous metals comprising 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 casting. The invention also provides for semi-automatic and automatic casting.

Abstract: Elongated members of reactive metals and alloys thereof, for example, uranium and alloys thereof, are cast from a crucible containing the molten metal blanketed with an inert gas and non-reactive prepared molten slag, directly into a mould protruding from the crucible. The cast metal is spray cooled with inert gas, which may be liquefied, as it emerges from an outlet end of the mould and is pulled, for example by rollers, into and possibly through an inert gas flushed container directly connected to the mould outlet end.

Abstract: Strips of amorphous metal containing embedded particulate matter and method for making it. Strips of amorphous metal containing embedded particles of abrasive material are useful for working the surfaces of solid articles by abrasion for forming or surface improvement. The method of making such strips involves forcing molten metal of a glass-forming alloy containing admixed particulate matter onto the surface of a moving chill body under pressure through a slotted nozzle located in close proximity to the surface of the chill body.

Abstract: Continuous metal casting method, especially continuous steel casting method, in which the melt is set in rotation about the strand axis within the continuous casting mold and gas in the gaseous or liquid state is fed onto the bath surface excentrically to the mold axis and at an acute angle to the velocity vector of the rotatory movement. The rotatory movement of the melt is brought about substantially by the thrust of the gas directed at high velocity onto the bath surface. The apparatus for the practice of the method has circumferentially of the mold, at least 2 terminal fittings of gas feed lines, whose discharge orifices are so constructed that a rotatory movement of the melt is brought about substantially by the thrust of the gas directed at high velocity against the bath surface.

Abstract: A bearing gas flow minimizes dynamic fluctuations in the molten alloy puddle from which metallic ribbon is formed during chill block melt-spinning. The bearing gas flow causes an improved quench rate and melt puddle stabilization which results in reduced upper ribbon surface texture and improved edge definition.