Method for the continuous casting of a product (P) along a curved casting line (18), provided with a crystallizer (11) having a tubular cavity (12) with a polygonal cross section defined by a determinate number of sides (n). The product (P) exiting from the crystallizer (11) is curved along the casting line (18) by support and curving rollers (19) and without the aid of lateral containing sectors of the cross section of the product (P).

This application discloses thin metal strips and methods of making thin metal strip. Particular embodiments of such methods include cooling the thin metal strip to a temperature equal to or less than a bainite or a martensite start transformation temperature B.sub.S or M.sub.S to thereby form bainite and/or martensite, respectively, within the thin metal strip, reheating the thin metal strip to a reheat temperature equal to or greater than transformation temperature Ac.sub.3 and holding the thin metal strip at the reheat temperature for at least 2 seconds and thereby forming austenite within the thin metal strip with at least 75% of austenite grains having a grain size equal to or less than 15 m, and rapidly recooling the thin metal strip to a temperature equal to or less than the martensite start transformation temperature M.sub.S and thereby providing finer martensite within the thin metal strip from a finer prior austenite.

A soft reduction device (1) of a round-section metal product, having liquid or partially liquid core, for reducing the thickness of said metal product coming from a continuous casting machine, the device comprising at least two soft reduction units (2, 3); in which said at least two soft reduction units (2, 3) are arranged in series; in which each soft reduction unit (2, 3) is provided with a group of only three rolls arranged at 120 from one another; and wherein the group of three rolls (7, 8, 9) of one soft reduction unit is offset by a predetermined angle with respect to the group of three rolls (10, 11, 12) of an adjacent soft reduction unit.

Conditions for soft reduction are determined in a method of continuous casting in accordance with a method utilizing the thickness of a slab strand to prevent center segregation from occurring in the strand due to an insufficient pressing rate or internal cracks from occurring in the strand due to an excessively high pressing rate.

Described herein are 6xxx series aluminum alloys with unexpected properties and novel methods of producing such aluminum alloys. The aluminum alloys are highly formable and exhibit high strength. The alloys are produced by continuous casting and can be hot rolled to a final gauge and/or a final temper. The alloys can be used in automotive, transportation, industrial, and electronics applications, just to name a few.

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 of forming tailored cast blanks including determining at least one of a thickness pattern or profile pattern for a blank, generating a layout for a series of blanks having the determined thickness or profile pattern and casting a strip in accordance with the layout, including varying the caster width during casting of the strip.

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.

Methods for producing a flat product from an iron-based shape memory alloy may involve casting a melt comprised of iron, alloying elements, and impurities into a strip having a thickness of 1-30 mm and cooling the melt as the strip is formed. A twin-roll caster may be employed to help cool and form the melt into the strip. The resultant flat product is highly resistant to bending and is robust under pressure and torsion.

An abrasion-resistant steel plate that can achieve both gas cutting cracking resistance and abrasion resistance at low cost is provided. An abrasion-resistant steel plate comprises: a chemical composition containing, in mass %, C: more than 0.34% and 0.50% or less, Si: 0.01% to 1.0%, Mn: 0.30% to 2.00%, P: 0.015% or less, S: 0.005% or less, Cr: 0.01% to 2.00%, Al: 0.001% to 0.100%, N: 0.01% or less, and a balance consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities; and a microstructure in which a volume fraction of martensite at a depth of 1 mm from a surface of the abrasion-resistant steel plate is 90% or more, and a prior austenite grain size at the mid-thickness of the abrasion-resistant steel plate is 80 m or less, wherein hardness at a depth of 1 mm from the surface of the abrasion-resistant steel plate is 560 HBW 10/3000 or more in Brinell hardness, and a concentration [Mn] of Mn in mass % and a concentration [P] of P in mass % in a plate thickness central segregation area satisfy 0.04[Mn]+[P]<0.45.