Types of Continuous Casters and the Quality of Continuous-Cast Slabs for Obtaining Rolled Products for Crucial Applications

This article examines the production of continuous-cast slabs for the production of thick (thicker than 20 mm) plates used in critical applications. It is shown that the melt needs to be carefully prepared for casting on a continuous caster. When the steel is made in a converter, the pig iron must be desulfurized beforehand and the steel tapped from the furnace must subsequently be treated on ladle-furnace and vacuum-degassing units. It was established that production of high-quality slabs suitable for obtaining critical rolled products can be consistently achieved only through the use of a vertical continuous caster. The bending and unbending which slabs undergo on curvilinear casters and the curved axis of such casters make it very difficult or even impossible to obtain slabs and thick plates that do not have asymmetrically distributed nonmetallic inclusions, axial segregation, and internal and external cracks. The article analyzes the success that the company Severstal' had in rebuilding its vertical slab caster. The project, carried out by TsNIIchermet and the companies ORMET-YuUMZ and Korad, shows that Russian metallurgical science, the metallurgical industry, and the machine-building sector have competitive engineering solutions to offer.     

Development and improvement of the Russian standards base in the field of graviinertial measurements

The present state of the Russian standards base in the field of graviinertial measurements is evaluated and the main directions for work to develop and improve it are formulated. Work programs on the prospects for measuring the parameters of linear low-frequency motion are described. A design concept is presented for the State standard and the specification document in the field of gravimetry Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 6, pp. 12–14, June, 1997.     

Metrological problems in measuring small and ultrasmall values of parameters of motion

New trends in metrological research on small and ultrasmall parameters of motion are considered. The main attention is devoted to the metrology of vector quantitaties, the reproduction of small and ultrasmall parameters against a background of considerably greater interference, and the use of the gravitational constant. The importance of further work directed at increasing the accuracy of determining free-fall acceleration and the gravitational constant is emphasized. The urgent directions for further research are formulated. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 4, pp. 3–5, April, 1998.