A heat-treatment apparatus includes a casing, a loader which loads a workpiece to an inner part of the casing in order to apply a heat-treatment to the workpiece, and a canopy surface provided in the casing to cover the workpiece. The canopy surface includes a slope way with a sectional configuration where the canopy surface is cut on a plane vertical to a conveying direction of the workpiece inside the casing. The slope way includes a highest point and a downward inclined surface extending from the highest point to an outside of a zone between a perpendicular line extending from a left end of the workpiece and a perpendicular line extending from a right end of the workpiece.

There are provided an apparatus for cooling a rail and a method for manufacturing a rail, capable of inexpensively manufacturing a rail with high hardness and high toughness. The apparatus for cooling a rail, configured to jet a cooling medium to the head portion and foot portion of a rail in an austenite temperature range to forcibly cool the rail, includes: a first cooling unit including plural first cooling headers configured to jet the cooling medium as gas to the head top face and head side of the head portion, and first driving units configured to move at least one first cooling header of the plural first cooling headers to change the jet distance of the cooling medium jetted from the first cooling header; and a second cooling unit including a second cooling header configured to jet the cooling medium as gas to the foot portion.

A bridle device and a method for producing a steel strip in which snaking of a steel strip that occurs during production of a high-silicon steel strip is suppressed. The bridle device includes a pair of upper and lower rotatable endless belts or a pair of upper and lower rotatable caterpillars configured to pinch a steel strip. The bridle device is movable or swingable in a steel strip width direction by using a steering mechanism. The bridle device further includes a rolling reduction mechanism configured to perform rolling reduction on a pinched portion of the steel strip by using the pair of upper and lower endless belts or the pair of upper and lower caterpillars. The steering mechanism moves or swings the bridle device in the steel strip width direction, and the rolling reduction mechanism performs rolling reduction on one of end portions in the steel strip width direction.

A method for electromagnetic and real-time measurement of a percentage of austenite contained in a steel strip in continuous motion during in-line manufacture or transformation thereof, by a device including the steel strip and a measuring device including at least: an alternating-current generator; a first coil supplied by the alternating-current generator, called a transmitting coil, and a second coil, called a receiving coil, the first and second coils being arranged parallel to each other or coaxial and on both sides of the steel strip, a distance between the coils being fixed and between 10 and 200 mm; a core of ferromagnetic material being a center of each coil, respectively; and at least one voltage-measuring device connected to terminals of the receiving coil, being a multimeter or an electronic acquisition system having an analog-digital converter coupled to a computer, to obtain the percentage of austenite contained in the steel strip.

Disclosed is a quenching method for a quenching object including a race provided with an object through hole. The quenching method includes a step of preparing a quenching tool which is a rod body, a step of suspending a plurality of the quenching objects on the rod body by inserting the quenching tool into the object through hole, and a step of immersing the quenching tool and the quenching objects in a cooling oil. In the step of suspending, each of the quenching objects is disposed on the rod body such that a contact state between the quenching tool and the object through hole is line contact.

In various embodiments, electronic devices such as touch-panel displays incorporate interconnects featuring a conductor layer and, disposed above the conductor layer, a capping layer comprising an alloy of Cu and one or more refractory metal elements selected from the group consisting of Ta, Nb, Mo, W, Zr, Hf, Re, Os, Ru, Rh, Ti, V, Cr, and Ni.

In various embodiments, electronic devices such as touch-panel displays incorporate interconnects featuring a conductor layer and, disposed above the conductor layer, a capping layer comprising an alloy of Cu and one or more refractory metal elements selected from the group consisting of Ta, Nb, Mo, W, Zr, Hf, Re, Os, Ru, Rh, Ti, V, Cr, and Ni.

A method of annealing a steel sheet in an annealing furnace, including: supporting and conveying a steel sheet with hearth rolls; and supporting and conveying the steel sheet with a full-ceramic hearth roll as a hearth roll located in an area where a furnace temperature is equal to or higher than 950° C., wherein a main constituent of the full-ceramic hearth roll is silicon nitride with use of an Al—Y-based sintering aid.

An aluminum-based coating of a flat steel product is applied in a hot-dipping method and comprises a mass percentage of silicon within a given range. The coating for a flat steel product, in particular for press mold hardening components, offers a shortened required minimum oven dwell time and a sufficiently large processing window when heating in an oven. This is achieved in that the surface of the coating has a degree of absorption for thermal radiation ranging between 0.35 and 0.95 prior to an annealing treatment, where the degree of absorption relates to an oven temperature ranging from 880 to 950° C. during the austenitizing annealing treatment. The invention additionally relates to an improved method for producing a flat steel product with an aluminum-based coating, to an inexpensive method for producing press-hardened components from such flat steel products, and to a press-hardened component made of such flat steel products.

An aluminum-based coating of a flat steel product is applied in a hot-dipping method and comprises a mass percentage of silicon within a given range. The coating for a flat steel product, in particular for press mold hardening components, offers a shortened required minimum oven dwell time and a sufficiently large processing window when heating in an oven. This is achieved in that the surface of the coating has a degree of absorption for thermal radiation ranging between 0.35 and 0.95 prior to an annealing treatment, where the degree of absorption relates to an oven temperature ranging from 880 to 950° C. during the austenitizing annealing treatment. The invention additionally relates to an improved method for producing a flat steel product with an aluminum-based coating, to an inexpensive method for producing press-hardened components from such flat steel products, and to a press-hardened component made of such flat steel products.