A molten metal processing device including an assembly mounted on the casting wheel, including at least one vibrational energy source which supplies vibrational energy to molten metal cast in the casting wheel while the molten metal in the casting wheel is cooled, and a support device holding the vibrational energy source. An associated method for forming a metal product which provides molten metal into a containment structure included as a part of a casting mill, cools the molten metal in the containment structure, and couples vibrational energy into the molten metal in the containment structure.

A device for the production of a metallic strip using a rapid solidification technology is specified, which device includes a movable heat sink with an external surface onto which a melt is poured and on which the melt solidifies to produce the strip, and which device includes a rolling device which can be pressed against the external surface of the movable heat sink while the heat sink is in motion.

Apparatus for producing elongate strands of metal comprises a rotatable wheel having a circumferential surface, at least one nozzle for directing a molten metal onto the circumferential surface and a collection means for collecting solidified strands of metal formed. The solidified strands are formed on the circumferential surface from the molten metal and are separated from the circumferential surface by centrifugal force generated by rotation of the wheel. The circumferential surface has a circumferentially extending structure having circumferentially extending edges and recesses formed between or bounded by the edges, and by an apparatus for controlling a gas pressure applied to the liquid metal which moves the liquid metal through the nozzle opening and delivers it to the circumferential surface of the rotatable wheel. The nozzle has a rectangular cross-section with a width of the nozzle opening in the circumferential direction of rotation of the wheel and a length transverse to the circumferential surface of the wheel which is greater than the width. A method and a wheel adapted for use in the apparatus are also claimed.

A device for the production of a metallic strip using a rapid solidification technology is specified, which device includes a movable heat sink with an external surface onto which a melt is poured and on which the melt solidifies to produce the strip, and which device includes a rolling device which can be pressed against the external surface of the movable heat sink while the heat sink is in motion.

A rapidly quenched Fe-based soft-magnetic alloy ribbon having wave-like undulations on a free surface, the wave-like undulations having transverse troughs arranged at substantially constant intervals in a longitudinal direction, and the troughs having an average amplitude D of 20 mm or less, is produced by a method comprising (a) keeping a transverse temperature distribution in a melt nozzle within 15 C. to have as small a temperature distribution as possible in a melt paddle of the alloy, and (b) forming numerous fine linear scratches on a cooling roll surface by a wire brush, thereby providing a ground surface of the cooling roll with an arithmetical mean (average) roughness Ra of 0.1-1 m and a maximum roughness depth Rmax of 0.5-10 m.

A rapid solidification apparatus is provided. The rapid solidification apparatus includes a movable chill body defining a quench surface, a molten material nozzle for directing one or more streams of molten material towards the quench surface and a source of inert gas. The source of inert gas is configured to provide a conical shield of pressurized inert gas around the one or more streams of molten material. The conical shield extends from the molten material nozzle towards the quench surface with focal point of the conical shield at or proximate the quench surface.

When a ribbon is cast by heating raw materials to prepare a molten R-T-B-based alloy and supplying the molten alloy to a chill roll to solidify the molten alloy, the temperature of the molten alloy is adjusted in accordance with at least one of the arithmetic mean roughness Ra and the mean spacing of profile irregularities Sm of the surface of the chill roll, thereby controlling the spacing between adjacent R-rich phases in a crystal structure of resulting alloy flakes to a desired value. This makes it possible to inhibit variations in the crystal structure of the resulting alloy flakes that may occur due to wear of the chill roll. In adjusting the temperature of the molten alloy in accordance with at least one of the arithmetic mean roughness Ra and the mean spacing of profile irregularities Sm, it is preferred that the molten alloy temperature be adjusted using the equation: t=7(|Ra||Sm|).sup.0.5/ where t is an amount of adjustment of the molten alloy temperature ( C.); Ra is an amount of change (m) in the arithmetic mean roughness Ra; Sm is an amount of change (m) in the mean spacing of profile irregularities Sm; and is a correlation coefficient.

A molten metal temperature control method includes: with respect to relations among a spheroidization distance traveled by a molten metal of an alloy from a nozzle tip to a position where the molten metal turns into droplets, the temperature of the molten metal inside the crucible, and a pressure acting on the molten metal inside the crucible, obtaining a relation between the temperature and the spheroidization distance at a predetermined pressure, and setting a predetermined temperature range of the temperature; measuring a spheroidization distance when discharging the molten metal from the crucible at the predetermined pressure, and specifying a temperature corresponding to the measured spheroidization distance; and comparing the specified temperature and the predetermined temperature range, and when the specified temperature is outside the predetermined temperature range, controlling the specified temperature so as to be within the predetermined temperature range by adjusting the temperature inside the crucible.

An R-T-B based alloy strip including columnar crystals of an R.sub.2T.sub.14B phase, wherein in a cross-section along the thickness direction, columnar crystals extend out in a radial fashion from the crystal nuclei, the R-T-B based alloy strip satisfying the following inequality (1), where D.sub.1 and D.sub.2 are, respectively, the average value for the lengths of the columnar crystals on one side and the average value for the lengths on the other side that is opposite the one side, in the direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the cross-section.
0.9/1.1D.sub.2/D.sub.11.1/0.9(1)

An R-T-B sintered magnet including a composition containing a rare earth element, a transition element and boron, containing essentially no dysprosium as a rare earth element, and having crystal grains with a composition containing a rare earth element, a transition element and boron, and grain boundary regions formed between the crystal grains, wherein the triple point regions which are grain boundary regions surrounded by 3 or more crystal grains have a composition containing a rare earth element, a transition element and boron and have a higher mass ratio of the rare earth element than the crystal grains, the average value of the area of the triple point regions in a cross-section being no greater than 2 m.sup.2 and the standard deviation of the area distribution being no greater than 3.