Metallurgie Hoboken-Overpelt

Hazelett Strip-Casting Corporation

John M Dompas

Robert William Hazelett

Rene E Mortier

Charles J Petry

R William Hazelett

Constant T Verhoeven

Hubert J Tobback

Hendrik A Gielen

Stanley E Aylward

Jean L Ghyselen

Christian L Raskin

Marc Dompas

Yvon L Vanelderen

Marcel K Govaerts

Edge-dam blocks assembled with their upstream faces in keyed mating interengagement with downstream faces of adjacent blocks form an endless edge dam revolvable in a preselected path for defining a boundary of a moving-mold casting region. The edge dam keeps molten metal in the casting region. Upstream and downstream faces of adjacent blocks have mutually complementary shapes for minimizing intrusion of molten metal between abutting blocks. Keying engagement between abutting blocks prevents relative translational slippage of blocks toward or away from molten metal. An abuttable face on each block has at least one protrusion such as an integral elongated key extending perpendicularly to a casting belt associated with the casting region, or the protrusion includes two round pins having projecting tapered ends. Another abuttable face has a recess such as a keyway for snugly receiving a key on an adjacent block or has two tapered recesses for snugly receiving two tapered projections of an adjacent block. External edges and root fillets of keys (and shoulders and root fillets of keyways) are radiused with radii in a range between about 1.2 and about 3 millimeters. Blocks' lower surfaces are shown having slots for receiving a tension member. A key's lower end may be undercut near the slot for relieving stress concentration. A pair of parallel undercut fillets are shown extending along opposite sides of a key. They have a radius in a range from about 3 to about 5 millimeters.

Edge-DAM blocks having abuttable upstream and downstream faces meshing

Metallic pieces of predetermined shape, e.g., anodes, are continuously manufactured from molten metal, e.g., impure molten copper, by continuously casting the molten metal in an inclined mold cavity (13) formed by two endless moving belts (14( and (15) and by two moving side dams (20) and (21) so as to produce a hot metallic strip (4), and by cutting the hot strip, when it has left the mold cavity, with at least one plasma torch (10) along a profile (27) such that anodes (11) with a low waste coefficient are obtained. In this way, flat copper anodes with a thickness of between 40 and 50 mm can be produced.

Metallic anodes manufactured from molten copper

Process and apparatus for continuous casting in a twin-belt casting machine in which the moving side dams are guided along opposite sides of the moulding cavity by guide device extending along beside the respective moving side dams, and the moving side dams are cooled by cooling fluid circulated in at least a part of the guide device and applied directly to the moving side dams. The moving side dams are cooled by cooling fluid sprayed through orifices in the guide device directly onto the moving side dams along at least a part of the downstream zone of the moulding cavity. During movement of the side dams along the moulding cavity from its entrance to its exit, they pass successively through a first (or upstream) zone in which they face molten metal and through a second (or downstream) zone in which they face solidified metal. The cooling fluid is sprayed directly onto the moving side dams only in this second zone. The first zone occupies from approximately 3/10ths to approximately 1/2 of the overall length of the moulding cavity, and the second zone occupies the remainder. The cooling fluid is advantageously sprayed directly toward the side dam for providing very effective cooling action, and this cooling fluid is aimed in a downstream direction that forms an acute angle with the moving direction of the side dam. Preferably this acute angle is in the range from approximately 20.degree. to approximately 50.degree. for propelling the cooling fluid downstream away from the first zone, and preferably the cooling fluid is water.

Process and apparatus for continuous casting

An improved process and apparatus for casting a strip with laterally extending lugs by introducing molten metal at the inlet of a molding zone having a bottom and sidewalls, the bottom of the molding zone being formed by the upper surface of a moving endless belt and the sidewalls being formed by a first and second moving endless sidedam. The sidedams move with the belt from the inlet to the outlet of the molding zone and return from the outlet to the inlet. Each sidedam comprises an endless strap and a multiplicity of blocks strung thereon. Some of the blocks form lug molding pockets, the height of each pocket being lower than the height of the molding zone. A cast strip with laterally extending lugs is extracted at the outlet of the molding zone. The passage of lug molding pockets or blocks forming these pockets in each sidedam is detected. The difference between the temperatures of the first and the second sidedams is corrected so as to change the advancing speed of at least one of these dams, a warmer sidedam moving slower than a colder sidedam, if an unwanted lag is found between the molding pockets of the first sidedam and those of the second sidedam. The improvement comprises controlling the result of the correction measures by detecting the passage of the externally extending lugs in the cast product, modifying the correction as a function of the lug detection, and modifying the difference between the temperatures of the first and the second sidedams by use of cooling and heating units.

Process and apparatus for casting a strip with laterally extending lugs

Process and apparatus for separating a suspension bar from an electrode

Metallic pieces of predetermined shape, e.g., anodes, are continuously manufactured from molten metal, e.g., impure molten copper, by continuously casting the molten metal in an inclined molding cavity (13) formed by two endless moving belts (14) and (15) and by two moving side dams (20) and (21) so as to produce a hot metallic strip (4), and by cutting the hot strip, when it has left the molding cavity, with at least one plasma torch (10) along a profile (27) such that anodes (11) with a low waste coefficient are obtained. In this way, flat copper anodes with a thickness of between 40 and 50 mm can be produced.

Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of metallic anodes from molten

An improved cutting apparatus of the type comprising an endless roller conveyor (4) for carrying a moving strip (1), a carriage (9) located above the strip (1) and adapted to move in the same direction as the strip (1) and in the opposite direction and a thermal cutting device (12) carried by the carriage (9) and adapted to move transversally to the moving strip (1). The conveyor (4) is adapted to revolve in such way that its upper run continuously moves in the direction (X) of the strip (1) and the distance between the successive rollers (3) of the conveyor (4) is such that cutting can be performed without the rollers (3) being damaged. The apparatus can be used for cutting a continuously cast strip of anode copper into anodes (FIG. 1).

Apparatus for cutting a moving metallic strip into uniform pieces

An endless casting belt for machines for continuous casting of metals, said casting belt being provided with a layer of an anti-adhesion agent and having at least in the 'welding zone' a coating resistant to stress corrosion cracking when in contact with the liquid metal to be cast and with the said anti-adhesion agent.

Casting belts for machines for the continuous casting of metals

A process for the continuous manufacture of copper wire rod presenting both the good ductility of oxygen-free copper and the annealing capacity of the tough pitch copper, in which liquid copper is prepared containing from about 0.006 to 0.0095% by weight of oxygen, the said liquid copper is cast via an open pouring spout in a continuous casting machine having an inclined straight molding cavity for producing a continuous copper bar containing 0.01 to 0.02% by weight of oxygen and which consists of a shell of solid copper and a core of liquid copper, the said bar on leaving the casting machine is cooled by repeated and direct contact with a cooling agent for complete solidification and the solidified bar is guided towards a horizontal rolling mill known 'per se' along a curved path the maximum curvature of which is less than 0.25 m.sup.-1, and the said bar is rolled into wire rod.

Manufacture of copper wire rod

Improved casting method and side dam apparatus for use in twin-belt continuous metal casting machines are described particularly adapted for casting rectangular copper bar providing a casting speed almost double that obtained in prior twin-belt machines and a damblock lifetime which is more than doubled, while producing a more homogeneous and symmetrical casting structure. The side dams are formed by stringing slotted damblocks along the entire length of a flexible metal strap, except for end portions of the strap. An end-to-end weld forms an endless strap loop of accurately predetermined length, and special damblocks having two mating interlocking halves are inserted into the remaining space along the strap, whereby all blocks are free to slide on the strap but with little cumulative space between blocks, which are preferably made of a bronze alloy presenting better resistance to heat cracking and higher heat conductivity than in previous damblocks. The damblocks are cooled by controlled liquid sprays in a chamber, their temperature after cooling is sensed, and then they have an insulative material applied thereto before re-entry into the machine.

Method and apparatus for continuously casting copper bar product

A machine for the casting of metals having a moulding cavity formed by at least a moving casting belt and side dams, in which the said casting belt is made of mild killed steel containing between 0.2 and 0.8% by weight of titanium.

Machines for the casting of metals

A mold for the continuous casting of metals, in which at least its inner part is made of a refractory material chosen from the group of materials comprising tantalum, niobium, tantalum-base alloys and niobium-base alloys.

Method of continuous casting

A mold with a cooling jacket for the continuous vertical casting of metal billets, comprising between the lower part of the mold and the jacket a tubular wall the upper part of which is surrounded by ribs forming with the external side of the wall and with the internal side of the jacket a plurality of channels, said tubular wall forcing the cooling liquid introduced laterally into the jacket first to rise, then to divide itself regularly between the said ribs and to form simultaneously a laminar flow, then to flow down in that state along the mold and to leave in that state the cooling space through an annular slot.

Mold for the continuous vertical casting of billets

Improved casting side dam apparatus for use in twin-belt continuous metal casting machines is described particularly adapted for casting rectangular copper bar providing a casting speed almost double that obtained in prior twin-belt machines and a damblock lifetime which is more than doubled, while producing a more homogeneous and symmetrical casting structure. The side dams are formed by stringing slotted damblocks along the entire length of a flexible metal strap, except for end portions of the strap. An end-to-end weld forms an endless strap loop of accurately predetermined length, and special damblocks having two mating interlocking halves are inserted into the remaining space along the strap, whereby all blocks are free to slide on the strap but with little cumulative space between blocks, which are preferably made of a bronze alloy presenting better resistance to heat cracking and higher heat conductivity than in previous damblocks. During return travel from the output end of the machine to the input, the side dams are passed by tension apparatus which deflects them along a smoothly curved arc convex toward the interior of the side dam loop to take up any available slack, forcing the blocks tightly together in end abutting relationship along the casting zone, thus ensuring a cast product without burrs on the side surfaces. The damblocks are cooled by liquid sprays before re-entry into the machine.

Twin-belt continuous casting apparatus

A process for the manufacture of copper wire rod, in which liquid copper is cast in a continuous casting machine provided with an inclined straight moulding cavity to produce a continuous bar of copper, comprising guiding said bar as it leaves the casting device towards a horizontal rolling machine known 'per se' along a curved path, the maximum curvature of the curved path being less than 0.25 m.sup.-.sup.1 thus preventing the formation of cracks in the hot bar, and converting the said bar into wire rod in the said rolling machine.

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Olen, Belgium

John M Dompas