Hunter Engineering Company

Fata Hunter, Inc.

Shultz Steel Company

Dennis M Smith

Christopher A Romanowski

William R Lewis

John E Flowers

James N Cordea

Anthony Vinter

Wendell G Jenness

A strip casting apparatus having a roll shell with a nitrided inner diameter surface mounted on a steel core and method of manufacturing the same. The inner diameter of a steel roll shell may be nitrided by ion or plasma nitriding. The nitriding process can form tight, crack free nitride layer that provides a corrosion resistant barrier and exhibits a surface hardness that is greater than the surface hardness of the steel core and that improves galling resistance while maintaining efficient heat transfer of the roll shell. After nitriding, the roll shell can be shrink fit over a steel core.

Galling and corrosion resistant inner diameter surface in aluminum caster roll shell steels

A variable tip width adjustment system for use in continuous casting of a molten metal includes a feed tip nozzle downstream from a distribution box, the nozzle including a pair of feed tip nozzle members spaced apart to define a feed tip opening at a downstream edge of the feed tip nozzle members and a pair of end dams located on a drive side and an operator side of the roll casters, the end dams slidably engaged inside the tip nozzle, each dam being axially moveable in two directions inside the tip nozzle. The end dams are preferably actuated using a programmable controller and a stepper motor that is responsive to the signals of the programmable controller. The stepper motor is preferably connected to the end dam via flex connector and a connecting guide rod directed through a guide tube.

Variable tip width adjustment system

An improved molten metal feed system is provided for high speed, continuous casting of metals and alloys. The feed system includes a distributor box having an insulative lining which supports an internal flow distributor board. The flow distributor board includes a plurality of openings of various sizes and shapes spaced apart along the width of the board. The presence of the flow distributor board effectively separates the box into lower and upper sections and restricts the flow of liquid metal through the board and thus, forces entering liquid metal to fill the entire width of the distributor box below the flow distributor board. In addition, the liquid metal is stabilized across the width of the distributor box resulting in a balanced temperature gradient. Once the lower section of the distributor box is filled, the metal flows through the openings in the board into the upper section of the distributor box and into the feed tip nozzle. Flow dividers are also provided which are adapted to be positioned along the width of the distributor box. A baffleless feed tip nozzle is coupled to the distributor box. An adjustment mechanism is coupled to the feed tip nozzle which allows adjustment of the size of the feed tip opening.

Adjustable molten metal feed system

A molten metal feed tip nozzle for a continuous roll caster is made by combining a pair of elongated feed tip nozzle members with a non-aggressive buffer pad. The feed tip nozzle members are spaced apart a sufficient distance to allow molten metal to pass through the downstream edges to engage the surfaces of the caster rolls. The buffer pad is secured to an outside face of each feed tip nozzle member along the downstream edge. The buffer pad comprises at least an outside face which is less aggressive than the material forming the feed tip nozzle members for minimizing scratching of the rolls. Preferably, an upstream portion of the buffer pad contains a material that expands upon heating for conforming the outside of the pad to the surface of the adjacent roll.

Advanced feed tip nozzle for twin roll caster

A method is provided for continuously casting aluminum alloys having more than two percent total alloying elements by a combination of casting at thinner gauges and much higher speeds than usual. Since remelting in the caster is avoided, sheet quality is vastly improved, surface ripples are avoided, and casting rate increased as much 50%. The method is characterized by the thickness of the cast sheet being in the range of from 4 to 5.8 millimeters and the casting rate being in the range of from 1.3 to 1.9 meters per minute. Chlorides in the molten metal are coalesced and oxides filtered to keep the inclusion rate in the cast sheet very low.

Continuous casting aluminum alloy

A method is provided for continuously casting aluminum alloys particularly useful for computer memory disk stock by a combination of casting at thinner gauges and much higher speeds than usual. Sheet quality is vastly improved, surface ripples are avoided, and casting rate increased as much as 50%. The method is characterized by the thickness of the cast sheet being in the range of from 4 to 6 millimeters and the casting rate being in the range of from 0.8 to 1.8 meters per minute. Chlorides in the molten metal are coalesced and oxides filtered to keep the inclusion rate in the cast sheet very low.

A molten metal feed tip assembly comprises independently replaceable upstream and downstream units. The upstream unit comprises a pair of upstream plates spaced apart by one or more spacers. The downstream unit is preassembled and comprises a pair of spaced-apart downstream plates, each comprising two or more segments. The downstream unit also comprises spacers for maintaining the spacing between the plates and a brace, which extends across the upstream edges of the downstream plate segments to maintain the segments in edge-to-edge abutment.

Casting tip assembly with replaceable upstream and downstream units

A molten metal feed tip for a continuous caster for aluminum or the like is made by forming a slurry of refractory fibers in an aqueous solution containing a dispersion of colloidal silica. Liquid is extracted from the slurry to form a flexible felt blanket of refractory fibers which is then compressed in a closed die cavity having the desired geometry of one moiety of the molten metal feed tip. The felt blanket is heated in the closed die cavity to a sufficient temperature to extract water from solution remaining in the blanket to form one rigid moiety of the feed tip. Two such moieties are assembled to form a feed tip having a molten metal feed gap therebetween. The feed tip tapers towards the downstream edges which are compressed to a higher density than the upstream portion of the feed tip. The downstream edges have a greater thermal conductivity than the thermal conductivity of the upstream portion. The inside surfaces of the feed tip can be coated with glass fabric and the outside coated with metal foil to resist moisture. The inside and outside faces have generally planar portions converging from the upstream portion toward the downstream edges.

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Crestline, CA, United States of America

Dennis M Smith