A method of heat treatment of a non-metallic or metallic item is provided. The method includes at least one step A) of heat transfer between the item and a heat transfer fluid A including a fluid medium and nanoparticles. The heat transfer fluid has a heat transfer coefficient above the heat transfer coefficient of water. The method also includes at least one step B) of heat transfer between the item and a heat transfer fluid B including a fluid medium and nanoparticles. The heat transfer fluid B has a heat transfer coefficient different from the heat transfer coefficient of A and above the heat transfer coefficient of water. The heat transfer fluids A and B are different.

Monitoring of a line system (1) in which a liquid medium (3) is guided in a line (2). The current pressure of the liquid medium (3) in the line (2) and in the associated current flow are sensed at sensing times. The two values are fed to a computing unit (5). The computing unit (5) calculates a theoretical flow of the liquid medium (3) in the line (2) from the sensed current pressure by taking into account a specified flow function. The flow function describes a physical relationship between the theoretical flow of the liquid medium (3) and the current pressure of the liquid medium (3). The computing unit (5) determines an individual degree of clogging on the basis of the current flow and the theoretical flow. On the basis of a number of determined individual degrees of clogging and by using stochastic methods, the computing unit (5) calculates an interval within which a degree of clogging of the line system (1) lies with a probability to be defined. The line system (1) is monitored by using the size of the interval and/or the position of the interval with respect to first limits for the degree of clogging that are defined beforehand.

The present invention is a secondary cooling method and a secondary cooling device for a casting product casted in a continuous casting machine, the continuous casting machine including, in a secondary cooling zone below a mold, a plurality of pairs of support rolls that support the casting product from both sides of the casting product in a thickness direction, a cooling device being disposed between support rolls adjacent to each other along a casting direction of the continuous casting machine, the cooling device including a coolant pipe that supplies a coolant, and a coolant guide plate with a flat plate shape for spreading the coolant on the casting product, the coolant guide plate being disposed parallel to and spaced in a perpendicular direction from a surface of the casting product. The coolant is supplied from a coolant supply port provided in the coolant guide plate to a gap between the casting product surface and the coolant guide plate, and the casting product is cooled using the coolant mainly in a transition boiling region.

Provided is vertical semi-continuous casting equipment including a guide device disposed under the mold to support the slab drawn from the plate, the guide device being configured to guide the descending of the slab. The guide device includes first and second guide parts including a plurality of guide rolls respectively disposed on both sides of a moving path of the plate under the mold to support the slab moving by the plate and guide the movement of the slab and a braking unit connected to each of the guide rolls to apply braking force to the guide roll that rotates by the movement of the slab. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the slab having the length longer than that of the slab in accordance with the related art may stably descend, the shaking of the slab may be prevented, and the casting speed may be stabilized.

The invention provides rotating a submerged nozzle during casting to arbitrarily change the discharge angle of molten metal, causing the molten metal in the mold for slab to be rotated and stirred. A slab continuous casting apparatus according to the invention supplies molten metal from a tundish to a water-cooled mold for slab through at least an upper nozzle, a slide valve and a submerged nozzle and solidified the molten metal and provided with a submerged-nozzle quick replacement mechanism. The slab continuous casting apparatus further includes a discharge-direction changing mechanism capable of arbitrarily changing discharge angle of the molten metal as viewed in a horizontal cross section, during casting, the discharge-direction changing mechanism being provided between a slide valve device for opening and closing the slide valve and the submerged nozzle.

An aluminum alloy ingot contains Cu: 0.15 mass % or more and 1.0 mass % or less, Mg: 0.6 mass % or more and 1.2 mass % or less, Si: 0.95 mass % or more and 1.35 mass % or less, Mn: 0.4 mass % or more and 0.6 mass % or less, Fe: 0.15 mass % or more and 0.70 mass % or less, Cr: 0.09 mass % or more and 0.25 mass % or less, and Ti: 0.012 mass % or more and 0.035 mass % or less, with the remainder being made up of Al and unavoidable impurities, and in the aluminum alloy ingot, a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of secondary dendrite arm spacing in a cross section perpendicular to a casting direction of the aluminum alloy ingot is in a range of 5 m or more and 20 m or less.

A twin roll casting system includes a pair of counter-rotating casting rolls, a casting roll controller is configured to receive a plant input comprising at least one process control setpoint for the casting rolls. A cast strip sensor measures at least one parameter of the cast strip. A feedback controller receives measurement signals from the cast strip sensor. The feedback controller is a data-driven model including a database of state-input pairs; and executes the following steps at each time step: measure a state-input similarity between a new state observation and samples, assign a weight to each consequent output of samples based on the measured state input similarity, and sum the weighted outputs and predict an output of a new state observation. The feedback controller is configured to provide the control setpoint to the casting roll controller based on the predicted output of the new state observation.

The present invention relates to a water-cooled handling roll (100) for handling a load (50), in particular a thin slab, in a furnace for temperature heating, maintaining and for buffering, arranged between casting and roughing, in a continuous casting and rolling process for thin carbon steel slabs. The roll (100) comprises a first internally hollow shaft (110), which is coated by an insulating and/or refractory material and a plurality of wheels (25) connected in stably fixed manner to an outermost surface (111) of the first shaft (110) to handle and support the load (50). According to the invention, the roll (100) also comprises a second shaft (120) arranged within an inner cavity of the first shaft (110) in position coaxial to the first shaft (110) and so as to define a gap (30) between the first shaft (110) and said second shaft (120). The roll (100) further comprises cooling water circulation means housed at least in part within said second shaft (120).

A pulling-up-type continuous casting apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a holding furnace that holds molten metal, and a shape defining member disposed above a molten-metal surface of the molten metal held in the holding furnace, the shape defining member being configured to define a cross-sectional shape of a cast-metal article to be cast as molten metal passes through an opening formed in the shape defining member. The opening is formed in such a manner that a size of the opening on a top surface of the shape defining member is larger than that on a bottom surface of the shape defining member. With this configuration, a cast-metal article having excellent surface quality can be produced even when molten metal is drawn up in an oblique direction.

In production of a reactive metal using a melting furnace for producing metal having a hearth, ingots can be efficiently produced by efficiently cooling the ingots extracted from the mold provided in the melting furnace. In addition, an apparatus structure in which multiple ingots can be produced with high efficiency and high quality from one hearth, is provided. A melting furnace for producing metal is provided, the furnace has a hearth for having molten metal formed by melting raw material, a mold in which the molten metal is poured, an extracting jig which is provided below the mold for extracting ingot cooled and solidified downwardly, a cooling member for cooling the ingot extracted downwardly of the mold, and an outer case for keeping the hearth, the mold, the extracting jig, and the cooling member separated from the air, wherein at least one mold and extracting jig are provided in the outer case, and the cooling member is provided between the outer case and the ingot, or between the multiple ingots.