A continuous casting and rolling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention provides: a continuous caster for generating a steel sheet; a first rolling unit associated with the continuous caster; and a second rolling unit which is spaced apart in the outlet of the first rolling unit and comprises: a rolling mill for pressing down the steel sheet; and a cutter for cutting a portion of the steel sheet, wherein the cutter is spaced from the second rolling unit by a length corresponding to the length of the steel sheet discharged in an at least discontinuous rolling mode, and may comprise a cut withdrawal unit provided between the first rolling unit and the second rolling unit. In addition, a continuous casting and rolling method according to another embodiment of the present invention is a continuous casting and rolling method in which a continuous rolling mode and a discontinuous rolling mode are switched to and from each other, and may comprise: a continuous casting step for generating a steel sheet; a rolling step for pressing down the steel sheet to a rolling mill after the continuous casting step; and a cutting step for cutting the steel sheet between the continuous casting step and the rolling step in a discontinuous rolling mode, and cutting the steel sheet with a cutter provided by being spaced apart from the rolling mill at an interval corresponding to the length of the steel sheet being cut and discharged in an at least discontinuous rolling mode.

A method and apparatus for manufacturing a flexible layer stack, and to a flexible layer stack. Implementations of the present disclosure particularly relate to a method and apparatus for coating flexible substrates with a low melting temperature metal or metal alloy. In one implementation, a method is provided. The method includes delivering a transfer liquid to a quenching surface of a rotating casting drum. The method further includes forming a material layer stack over the rotating casting drum by delivering a molten metal or molten metal alloy toward the quenching surface of the rotating casting drum. The method further includes transferring the material layer stack from the rotating casting drum to a continuous flexible substrate, wherein the quenching surface of the rotating casting drum is cooled to a temperature at which the layers of the material layer stack solidify.

An alloy cast strip includes grains having R.sub.2Fe.sub.14B-type compound as main phase, where R denotes a rare earth element, Fe denotes iron, and B denotes boron. The grains include non-columnar grains having an aspect ratio in a range from 0.3 to 2 and columnar grains having an aspect ratio equal to or larger than 3. A ratio of an area of the non-columnar grains to a total area of the grains is equal to or larger than 60% and a ratio of a number of the non-columnar grains to a total number of the grains is equal to or larger than 75%. A ratio of an area of the columnar grains to the total area of the grains is equal to or smaller than 15% and a ratio of a number of the columnar grains to the total number of the grains is equal to or smaller than 10%.

In exemplary implementations of this invention, an actuated fabricator deposits structural elements (e.g., tensile structural elements) in a 3D pattern over large displacements. The fabricator is supported by at least three elongated support members. It includes onboard actuators that translate the fabricator relative to the ends of the support members. The fabricator is configured, by actuating different translations along different support members, to translate itself throughout a 3D volume. In some implementations, each of the actuators use fusible material to fuse metal tapes together, edge-to-edge, to form a hollow structure that can be shortened or lengthened.

In exemplary implementations of this invention, an actuated fabricator deposits structural elements (e.g., tensile structural elements) in a 3D pattern over large displacements. The fabricator is supported by at least three elongated support members. It includes onboard actuators that translate the fabricator relative to the ends of the support members. The fabricator is configured, by actuating different translations along different support members, to translate itself throughout a 3D volume. In some implementations, each of the actuators use fusible material to fuse metal tapes together, edge-to-edge, to form a hollow structure that can be shortened or lengthened.

A molten metal processing device including a molten metal containment structure for reception and transport of molten metal along a longitudinal length thereof. The device further includes a cooling unit for the containment structure including a cooling channel for passage of a liquid medium therein, and an ultrasonic probe disposed in relation to the cooling channel such that ultrasonic waves are coupled through the liquid medium in the cooling channel and through the molten metal containment structure into the molten metal.

A method and a device for producing a continuous strip-shaped composite material. The device has at least one first casting machine, using which a continuous strand is produced, in particular from steel, at least one rolling stand, which is arranged in line with the first casting machine and downstream thereof. A fully solidified slab of the strand produced using the first casting machine can be hot rolled, and at least one second casting machine, using which a further continuous strand is produced from metal. Between the casting machines, on the one hand, and the rolling stand, on the other hand, a merging unit is arranged, by means of which the slabs can be moved in the direction toward each other in the hot state. The rolling stand is designed as a roll-cladding unit, by which a composite formed from the merged slabs can be hot rolled.

In exemplary implementations of this invention, an actuated fabricator deposits structural elements (e.g., tensile structural elements) in a 3D pattern over large displacements. The fabricator is supported by at least three elongated support members. It includes onboard actuators that translate the fabricator relative to the ends of the support members. The fabricator is configured, by actuating different translations along different support members, to translate itself throughout a 3D volume. In some implementations, each of the actuators use fusible material to fuse metal tapes together, edge-to-edge, to form a hollow structure that can be shortened or lengthened.

In exemplary implementations of this invention, an actuated fabricator deposits structural elements (e.g., tensile structural elements) in a 3D pattern over large displacements. The fabricator is supported by at least three elongated support members. It includes onboard actuators that translate the fabricator relative to the ends of the support members. The fabricator is configured, by actuating different translations along different support members, to translate itself throughout a 3D volume. In some implementations, each of the actuators use fusible material to fuse metal tapes together, edge-to-edge, to form a hollow structure that can be shortened or lengthened.

A method for operating a combined casting/rolling installation: A casting machine (4) of the combined installation (2) produces a cast product (40) and a rolling mill (6, 8) of the installation (2) produces a rolled product (42a, 42b) from the cast product (40). The installation (2) has a control device (12) with a measuring unit (14) and a controller (16). The measuring unit (14) detects a rolled-product property, generates a measurement signal dependent on that property and transmits the measurement signal to the controller (16), and the controller (16) uses the measurement signal to generate a control signal for the casting machine (4) based on a control algorithm and transmits the control signal to the casting machine (4) which uses the control signal to set a casting parameter. The detected rolled-product property is a temperature profile of the rolled product (42a, 42b) in the width direction thereof and the casting parameter that is set by the casting machine (4) using the control signal is a cooling parameter of the casting machine (4).