A bearing block can include a body including an exterior surface and an interior surface defining a central bore of the body. The exterior surface can include a first material, and the interior surface can include a second material, wherein the first material can be different than the second material.

An apparatus for cooling a steel sheet includes: an apparatus body provided spaced apart from a steel sheet in the conveying path of the steel sheet; and a cooling unit provided in the apparatus body to supply a cooling fluid. The apparatus body includes: a first edge body that faces a first edge portion extending a certain distance from one side end of the steel sheet toward the center of the steel sheet; and a second edge body that faces a second edge portion extending a certain distance from the other side end of the steel sheet toward the center of the steel sheet. The first and second edge bodies may have stepped cross-sections in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the steel sheet.

An apparatus for controlling coating weight of a steel sheet by using an air knife includes: an air knife condition derivation unit configured to derive a first air knife gap and a final air knife pressure for target coating weight, and derive a second air knife gap for achieving the target coating weight at a current air knife pressure; and an air knife gap compensation unit configured to determine a final air knife gap according to a gap compensation amount that is a difference between the second air knife gap and the first air knife gap and a gap compensation ratio based on an air knife pressure variation amount for a control period, in which the control period is a period for updating an air knife condition for the target coating weight.

A device for coating a metal strip with a liquid coating material comprises a coating container filled with, for example, liquid zinc. After the metal strip exits the coating container, liquid coating material adheres to the metal strip. Excess coating material is blown away from the surface of the metal strip by a blowing device. Thereafter, the metal strip runs through an electromagnetic stabilization device which is supported on the blowing device. Disturbing influences may cause the metal strip to no longer run centrally through a slot of the blowing device. A displacement or re-alignment of the blowing device is then required to guide the metal strip back to the set middle position. A first displacing device displaces the electromagnetic stabilization device relative to the blowing device in the plane transverse to the direction of transport of the metal strip to avoid an undesirable displacement of the electromagnetic stabilization device.

Provided is a method of controlling coating weight coated on a strip by using an air knife disposed in a travelling direction of the strip in a continuous plating process in which the strip is dipped in a molten metal pot and is coated. The method includes: training a neural network with accumulated operation conditions; and deriving an absolute value of at least one of an air knife gap and an air knife pressure by using the trained neural network based on an input operation condition.

A roll for a hot-dip metal coating bath has a substantially cylindrical shape. At least an outer peripheral surface of the roll is formed of a ceramic material. A relatively coarse groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the roll in a direction crossing the rotation axis. A plurality of relatively fine grooves is formed in the bottom surface of the coarse groove along the longitudinal direction of the coarse groove. In place of the fine grooves extending in the longitudinal direction of the coarse groove, a plurality of rows of fine grooves may be formed along the crosswise direction of the coarse groove.

The invention provides a vertical annealing furnace including a heating zone and a soaking zone without any partition wall therebetween. The furnace has furnace-to-refiner gas suction openings disposed in a lower portion of a joint between the soaking zone and a cooling zone and in the heating zone and/or the soaking zone except a region extending 6 m in a vertical direction and 3 m in a furnace length direction both from a steel strip inlet at a lower portion of the heating zone. The furnace has refiner-to-furnace gas ejection openings disposed in a region in the joint between the soaking zone and the cooling zone, the region being located above the pass line in the joint, and in a region in the heating zone located above 2 m below the center of upper hearth rolls in the vertical direction.

The invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for avoiding surface defects, which are caused by zinc dust, on galvanized metal strip in continuous strip galvanization, in which metal strip which is to be galvanized and is heated in a continuous annealing furnace is moved through a furnace pipe in protective furnace gas and is immersed into a zinc bath, wherein the furnace pipe is provided with injection openings via which the front side and the rear side of the metal strip can be acted upon with protective furnace gas, and wherein extraction openings for extracting protective furnace gas loaded with zinc vapor are arranged adjacent to the injection openings. The apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that a multiplicity of the injection openings are configured and arranged in the furnace pipe in such a manner that the protective furnace gas streaming out of said injection openings is directed onto that surface of the metal strip which faces the respective injection opening with an angle of impact within the range of 70 to 110, wherein the distance between the respective injection opening and at least one extraction opening assigned thereto is selected in such a manner that, at a predetermined or predeterminable flow velocity of the protective furnace gas emerging from the respective injection opening, an entraining of protective furnace gas, which occurs during movement of the metal strip, in the direction of the zinc bath is opposed.

The invention relates to the field of materials science and to a device for reducing pressure in cavities in media at higher temperatures, such as those devices which can be used for devices for hot-dip coating metal materials in the metal processing industry for example. The aim of the invention is to provide a device by means of which pressure can be reduced in the cavity of the hollow bodies in a reliable and controlled manner and simultaneously the penetration of the media can be delayed or completely prevented at the higher temperatures. This is achieved by a device for reducing pressure in hollow bodies in media at higher temperatures, wherein at least one opening to the cavity of the hollow body is provided in hollow body regions which are not used for the intended application, said opening being closed from the medium surrounding the hollow body by at least one component made of a gas-permeable metal or ceramic material.

A multipurpose continuous processing line able for heat treating and hot dip coating a steel strip comprising: an annealing section (1) for heating the steel strip to a predetermined annealing temperature and for maintaining the steel strip at said annealing temperature, a first transfer section (2), an overaging section (3) able to maintain the temperature of the steel strip between 300 C. and 700 C., a second transfer section (4) able to adjust the temperature of the steel strip to allow the hot dip coating of the strip and, a hot dip coating section (5), wherein the first transfer section (2) comprises, in sequence, cooling means (21) and heating means (22).