In the single-belt process the liquid steel is fed from the supply system onto a moving belt that is cooled from below by water emerging from nozzles located in the cooling chamber. "Thick strip" is produced with thickness between 10 and 15 mm which is then in-line hot rolled to strip of the usual hot band thickness. In this lecture the present state of the process achieved in the pilot plants at Clausthal Technical University and at MEFOS is described. The main machine features of the caster, the specifics of heat withdrawal and the results of the materials investigations are given. The experimentation carried out hitherto at Technical University Clausthal and at MEFOS demonstrates that single-belt casting with in-line hot rolling is possible without major technical difficulties and that most of the product properties are satisfactory. However, our involvement with this process also indicates that certain challenges might arise in the industrialization. Whether the problems can be solved with reasonable means or not, can not be investigated with small scale pilot plants. That is, the real potential of the single-belt casting process can only be assessed if a full size demonstration plant is built and operated.
展开▼
