A method of making floor plate includes assembling a pair of casting rolls laterally disposed to form a nip, assembling a hot rolling mill downstream of the nip having work rolls with a surface pattern forming the negative of a raised slip-resistant pattern desired in a floor plate, introducing molten metal through at least one metal delivery nozzle to form a casting pool supported on the casting rolls above the nip; counter rotating the casting rolls to form shells on the casting surfaces of the casting rolls to cast metal strip of less than 2.2 mm thickness downwardly from the nip, and delivering the cast metal strip to and through the hot rolling mill to form by the negative of the slip-resistant pattern on the work rolls a raised slip-resistant pattern of between 0.3 and 0.7 mm in height in a floor plate of less than 1.7 mm thickness.

A method for producing a cast strip of molten metal, in which the molten metal passes through a casting gap defined by two oppositely rotating casting rollers and is shaped into the cast strip, as well as the cast strip that is produced. By providing the cast strip in the casting gap with a different thickness in a first length section extending in the longitudinal direction of the cast strip than in a second length section bordering thereon, a metal strip is produced that has length sections with different thicknesses.

A method of making weathering steel by preparing a molten melt producing an as-cast carbon alloy steel strip with a corrosion index of at least 6.0 comprising, by weight, 0.02%-0.08% carbon, <0.6% silicon, 0.2%-2.0% manganese, <0.03% phosphorus, <0.01% sulfur, <0.01% nitrogen, 0.2%-0.5% copper, 0.01%-0.2% niobium, 0.01%-0.2% vanadium, 0.1%-0.4% chromium, 0.08%-0.25% nickel, <0.01% aluminum, and the remainder iron and impurities. The molten melt is solidified and cooled into a cast strip 4 mm in thickness in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The strip is hot rolled in an austenitic temperature range above Ar.sub.3 to between 10% and 50% reduction, cooled at above 20 C./s and coiled below 700 C. to form a steel strip with a microstructure comprising bainite and acicular ferrite with more than 70% niobium in solid solution. Then, age hardening the strip resulting in a yield strength of at least 550 MPa and a total elongation of at least 8%.

A method and apparatus for casting thin strip including assembling a pair of counter-rotating casting rolls forming a gap between the casting surfaces of the rolls at a nip between the rolls through which metal strip can be cast; assembling side dams adjacent end portions of the rolls to permit a casting pool of molten metal to be formed on the casting surfaces; counter-rotating the rolls such that the casting surfaces each travel inwardly toward the nip to form metal shells on the surfaces of the rolls and deliver a cast strip downwardly from the gap between the rolls with a mushy internal portion; and providing a drive mechanism to oscillate the gap amplitude between the casting rolls between 5 and 50 microns at a frequency between 1 and 7 hertz to vary thickness of the mushy internal portion in the cast strip and reduce chatter during casting.

An austenitic stainless steel having excellent orange peel resistance and a method for producing the same are disclosed. In the austenitic stainless steel having excellent orange peel resistance, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a ratio Gs/Gi of an average crystal grain size Gs of surface crystal grains included in a first area corresponding to a depth of 10% or less of a total thickness of the austenitic stainless steel from the surface of the austenitic stainless steel with respect to an average crystal grain size Gi of internal crystal grains included in a second area corresponding to a depth that is deeper than 10% of the total thickness of the austenitic stainless steel from the surface of the austenitic stainless steel may be 0.5 or smaller. Therefore, it is possible to prevent deterioration of surface roughness due to orange peel of the steel surface even after post-processing of the austenitic stainless steel while increasing the sizes of crystal grains in order to reduce strength of the austenitic stainless steel, and also to reduce cost by replacing copper pipes

An aluminum alloy fin material for heat exchangers, containing 0.5 to 1.5 mass % of Si; more than 1.0 mass % but not more than 2.0 mass % of Fe; 0.4 to 1.0 mass % of Mn; and 0.4 to 1.0 mass % of Zn, with the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities, wherein a metallographic microstructure before braze-heating is such that a density of second phase particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of less than 0.1 m is less than 110.sup.7 particles/mm.sup.2, and that a density of second phase particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of 0.1 m or more is 110.sup.5 particles/mm.sup.2 or more, wherein a tensile strength before braze-heating, TS.sub.B (N/mm.sup.2), a tensile strength after braze-heating, TS.sub.A (N/mm.sup.2), and a fin sheet thickness, t (m), satisfy: 0.4(TS.sub.BTS.sub.A)/t2.1, and wherein the sheet thickness is 150 m or less; and a method of producing the same.

This disclosure concerns methods and apparatus for continuously casting thin strip where one or more expansion rings are positioned within at least one of a pair of casting rolls, and automatically measuring a thickness of the cast strip close to the first side edge of the strip using at least one sensor, and if the thickness measured is too thin, automatically decreasing the radial dimension of the expansion ring arranged in close proximity to the first side edge to cause the cylindrical tube to contract and increase the thickness of the cast strip during casting, and if the thickness measured indicates that the thickness of the cast strip is too thick, automatically increasing the radial dimension of the expansion ring arranged in close proximity to the first side edge to cause the cylindrical tube to expand and reduce the thickness of the cast strip during casting.

A method for producing an Fe-based nanocrystalline alloy ribbon, the method including a step of supplying a molten Fe-based alloy onto a rotating chill roll, and rapidly solidifying the molten Fe-based alloy that has been supplied onto the chill roll, thereby obtaining an Fe-based amorphous alloy ribbon having a free solidified surface and a roll contact surface, and a step of heat-treating the Fe-based amorphous alloy ribbon, thereby obtaining an Fe-based nanocrystalline alloy ribbon; wherein an outer peripheral part of the chill roll is composed of a Cu alloy, and a thermal conductivity of the outer peripheral part is from 70 W/(m.Math.K) to 225 W/(m.Math.K).

A system and method for continuous casting. The system includes a melt chamber, a withdrawal chamber, and a secondary chamber therebetween. The melt chamber can maintain a melting pressure and the withdrawal chamber can attain atmospheric pressure. The secondary chamber can include regions that can be adjusted to different pressures. During continuous casting operations, the first region adjacent to the melt chamber can be adjusted to a pressure that is at least slightly greater than the melting pressure; the pressure in subsequent regions can be sequentially decreased and then sequentially increased. The pressure in the final region can be at least slightly greater than atmospheric pressure. The differential pressures can form a dynamic airlock between the melt chamber and the withdrawal chamber, which can prevent infiltration of the melt chamber by non-inert gas in the atmosphere, and thus can prevent contamination of reactive materials in the melt chamber.

An aluminum alloy fin material for heat exchangers, containing 0.5 to 1.5 mass % of Si; 0.1 to 1.0 mass % of Fe; 0.8 to 1.8 mass % of Mn; and 0.4 to 2.5 mass % of Zn, with the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities, wherein a metallographic microstructure before braze-heating is such that a density of second phase particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of less than 0.1 m is less than 110.sup.7 particles/mm.sup.2, and that a density of second phase particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of 0.1 m or more is 510.sup.4 particles/mm.sup.2 or more, wherein a tensile strength before braze-heating, TS.sub.B (N/mm.sup.2), a tensile strength after braze-heating, TS.sub.A (N/mm.sup.2), and a sheet thickness of the fin material, t (m), satisfy a relationship: 0.4(TS.sub.BTS.sub.A)/t2.1, and wherein the sheet thickness is 150 m or less; and a method of producing the same.