| Abstract: | During near-net-shape casting as considered here, liquid steel in thicknesses between 5 and 15 mm has to be put onto a cooled belt recirculating with speeds of 30 to 60 m/min. On the belt the liquid steel solidifies, before it can be subjected to one or two in-line hot deformation steps. The requirement that the surface and the shape of the strips should already have the best possible structure upon being cast means that high demands are placed above all on the liquid steel feeding system. Especially the liquid metal should ideally be cast with the lowest possible turbulence and at a casting speed which is equal to the speed of the conveyor belt or cooled conveyor belt. In other words, the relative speed between the cast liquid and the cooled conveyor should become “zero” in order that the cast liquid can be more or less “laid” onto the cooled conveyor (known as isokinetic feeding). Different kinds of feeding liquid metals onto a circulating belt are reported with main emphasis on the theoretical modelling of the so-called underpressure feeding systems. It is shown that, on the one hand, the casting speed can be regulated independently of the input mass flow rate into the tundish and, on the other hand, the liquid can be accumulated in the tundish or discharged from it at constant casting speed. |
