TABLE OF CONTENTS The ability to produce useful solid metal components from the liquid state has been known for thousands of years with several mass production processes developed during the industrial revolution (Cossons 1987). An example of the latter is the large-scale production of steel products which followed the development of the Bessemer process in 1857 and progressed rapidly thereafter. Liquid steel was cast into cast iron moulds to produce ingots weighing 10 - 20 tonnes that were reheated in a soaking pit and subsequently rolled in primary mills to make intermediate products such as slabs, blooms and billets. Over the past five decades, a number of industrial processes involving dynamic casting techniques have been developed. These are termed continuous casting processes and generally involve the pouring of molten metal into some type of mould where a steady state is eventually reached and the material, in billet, plate, strip or rod form, is withdrawn at a given exit velocity without disruption to the process.
An indicator of the progress in the development of continuous casting compared with the earlier static processes is given in Figure 3.1 which shows the key stages in the development of steel manufacturing technologies. It can be seen that continuous casting of steel into slabs, billets and blooms first appeared in the 1950's and gained ascendancy quickly over ingot casting. These continuous casting routes have now developed into a mature industrial technology and a very high percentage of the world's crude steel and aluminium production is obtained...
