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Continuous Casting

Metallurgical Engineering

Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process by which molten metal is solidified into a semifinished billet, bloom or slab for subsequent rolling in a finishing mill, rather than being poured into stationary molds to form individual ingots as it was before the process was introduced in the 1950s. Since its introduction it has evolved to deliver better yield, quality, productivity and cost efficiency, offering lower-cost production with more consistent quality because of the inherently lower costs of continuous, standardized, automated production. It is used most heavily to cast steel by tonnage, though aluminium and copper are also continuously cast. Sir Henry Bessemer, already known for the Bessemer converter, patented a related system for casting metal between two counter-rotating rollers in 1857, and a version of that same basic layout has since been applied to the continuous casting of steel strip.

Facts
Core Principle
Molten metal is solidified continuously into a semifinished billet, bloom or slab for subsequent rolling in finishing mills, instead of being cast as individual ingots 1
Origin Year
1946 1
FAQs

Why does continuous casting put a tundish between the ladle and the mould?

It evens out the steel flow and keeps casting going during ladle changes.

The tundish is an intermediate vessel that delivers the liquid steel to the moulds evenly, at a designed throughput rate and temperature, without contaminating it with inclusions. It also acts as a reservoir during ladle changes, so the casting machine keeps being supplied with liquid steel.
Connections

Associated With

Metallurgical Engineering, Fields

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Steel, Materials

Most steel is now cast into slabs, blooms and billets by continuous casting.

In Field

Source Continuous Casting (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Continuous Casting (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Introduction, first sentence
    Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a 'semifinished' billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills.
  • Wikidata P575, time of discovery or invention
    1946-00-00T00:00:00Z
  • In Field: Metallurgical Engineering, Categories
    Casting
  • In Group: Steel Heat Treating and Finishing, Introduction
    Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills.
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