HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON CASTING TECHNOLOGIES AND EQUIPMENT EVOLUTION

摘要

Continuous casting might be simply defined as converting a volume of molten metal cast uninterrupted into a continuous strand or strands of solid billets, blooms, slabs or strips, suitable for rolling. However simple the definition and nature of the process itself may be the technology and apparatus for achieving this end result spans a period of well over one hundred years with commercial realization dating back to a little more than 50 years. Probably the most recognizable name associated with early steelmaking and casting is Henry Bessemer. His patent in 1857, which in 1868 lead to the casting of a 40 inch length of wrought iron on a casting machine with rollers used as molds, might well be considered the forerunner of thin strip technology cast on a production basis only recently. More about this latest so called leapfrog technology later. The development of continuous casting over the years starting in 1840 can best be summarized in the illustration (first published in 1975) shown in Figure 1. Added to this is, of course, the advent of the funnel mold first used in the commercial production of compact strip (50 mm) in 1989.