Kennecott Corporation

Kennecott Copper Corporation

Terry F Bower

George Shinopulos

M Ronald Randlett

Calvin Rushforth

An oscillating cooled mold assembly for the continuous, high-speed casting of metallic strands, especially upcasting strands of copper alloys such as brass, has a hollow die in fluid communication with a melt typically held in a casting furnace. A coolerbody surrounds the die in a tight-fitting relationship to form a solidification front in the melt as it advances through the casting zone of the die. During assembly, the die is preferably slip fit in the coolerbody. A shoulder on the die engages a lower face of the coolerbody and, together with a small irregularity on the upper coolerbody wall, prevents any axial movement of the die before it thermally expands against the coolerbody. An insulating member located between the die and the coolerbody and below the solidification front fixes the location of the front within a dimensionally uniform area of the die. The insulating member is preferably a ring of a material such as cast silica that has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, a low porosity, and is highly resistant to thermal shock. The insulating member also preferably creates a steep longitudinal temperature gradient at its upper end to promote a high cooling rate over a relatively short casting zone. An insulating hat encloses the coolerbody, allowing it to be immersed in the melt and preferably deeply immersed to a level above the casting zone. The strand or rod formed from the solidified melt is pulled through the die while the mold oscillates in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the rod.

Apparatus and method for continuous casting of metallic strands at

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for the integrated, continuous, high speed manufacture of metallic strip, especially brass, from a melt. The apparatus comprises a chilled casting mold in liquid communication with a melt, means for drawing a rod through the mold at a constant rate and means for oscillating the mold in a pattern of forward and reverse strokes with respect to the direction of travel of the rod. Conversion of the rod to strip comprises flattening in a hot rolling mill, and quenching. In accordance with known procedures, the produced strip can be further reduced in cross section in one or more cold rolling mill or other hot rolling mills if desired.

Method and apparatus for the continuous production of strip using

A rolling mill, particularly one capable of forming a hot, continuously cast metallic strand into a strip with a large bite and with one pass per mill stand, uses only two small diameter rolls per stand, each mounted for rotation in a pair of chock blocks and each having a comparatively narrow, enlarged diameter working portion. The outer surface of the working portion is profiled to maintain the product centered on the rolls and to accommodate for thermal expansion. The roll also includes an internal, longitudinally extending passage that receives a flow of coolant to control its temperature.

Hot mill self-centering roll design

A method for brazing a surface of an age hardened chrome copper member to a surface of a stainless steel member is disclosed. The process includes plating surfaces with copper, applying a brazed material of a copper/gold alloy between said surfaces, applying a brazing paste between said surfaces and rapidly heating the materials to fuse them together in a protected atmosphere. A particular disclosed embodiment of the method comprises the brazing of the cooler body assembly of a continuous casting die for casting copper strands.

Method for brazing a surface of an age hardened chrome copper member

A cooled mold assembly for the continuous, high-speed casting of metallic strands, especially upcasting strands of copper alloys such as brass, has a hollow die in fluid communication with a melt typically held in a casting furnace. A coolerbody surrounds the die in a tight-fitting relationship to form a solidification front in the melt as it advances through the casting zone of the die. The die is preferably slip fit in the coolerbody. A shoulder on the die engages a lower face of the coolerbody and together with a small irregularity on the upper coolerbody wall prevents an axial movement of the die before it thermally expands against the coolerbody. An insulating member located between the die and the coolerbody and below the solidification front fixes the location of that front within a dimensionally uniform area of the die. The insulating member is preferably a ring of a material such as cast silica that has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, a low porosity, and is highly resistant to thermal shock. The insulating member also preferably creates a steep longitudinal temperature gradient at its upper end to promote a high cooling rate over a relatively short casting zone. An insulating hat substantially encloses the coolerbody allowing it to be immersed in the melt and preferably deeply immersed to a level above the casting zone. This mold assembly is preferably used in conjunction with apparatus for drawing the casting through the die in a cycled pattern of forward and reverse strokes characterized by a low frequency, long forward strokes, a high forward velocity and high forward and reverse accelerations.

Mold assembly and method for continuous casting of metallic strands at

Disclosed is apparatus and method for integrated, continuous, high speed manufacture of metallic strip, especially brass, from a melt. The apparatus comprises a chilled casting mold in liquid communication with a melt and means for drawing a rod through the mold in a pattern of forward and reverse strokes. After emergence from the mold, the rod speed is regulated to a substantially constant value before conversion into strip. In this embodiment, the casting mold is stationary; the rod is drawn through the mold by driven rolls programmed to create the desired forward and reverse motion of the rod through the mold. Creating substantially constant speed is accomplished by allowing slack to develop through the lateral deflection of the rod. In another embodiment, the casting mold oscillates as the rod is withdrawn at a substantially constant speed so further rod motion regulation is unnecessary. Conversion of the rod to strip comprises flattening in a hot rolling mill, and quenching. In accordance with known procedures the produced strip can be further reduced in cross section in a cold rolling mill if desired.

Method and apparatus for the continuous production of strip

A cooled mold assembly for the continuous, high-speed casting of metallic strands, especially upcasting strands of copper alloys such as brass, has a hollow die in fluid communication with a melt typically held in a casting furnace. A coolerbody surrounds the die in a tight-fitting relationship to form a solidification front in the melt as it advances through the casting zone of the die. The die is preferably slip fit in the coolerbody. A shoulder on the die engages a lower face of the coolerbody and together with a small irregularity on the upper coolerbody wall prevents an axial movement of the die before it thermally expands against the coolerbody. An insulating member located between the die and the coolerbody and below the solidification front fixes the location of that front within a dimensionally uniform area of the die. The insulating member is preferably a ring of a material such as cast silica that has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, a low porosity, and is highly resistant to thermal shock. The insulating member also preferably creates a steep longitudinal temperature gradient at its upper end to promote a high cooling rate over a relatively short casting zone. An insulating hat substantially encloses the coolerbody allowing it to be immersed in the melt and preferably deeply immersed to a level above the casting zone. This mold assembly is preferably used in conjuction with apparatus for drawing the casting through the die in a cycled pattern of forward and reverse strokes characterized by a low frequency, long forward strokes, a high forward velocity and high forward and reverse accelerations.

Method for continuous casting of metallic strands at exceptionally high

Apparatus for guiding and coiling one or more metallic strands that are continuously advancing along their length from a casting apparatus. A coiling apparatus has an open-top coil-collecting basket with concentric, generally cylindrical inner and outer walls. A rotating cone is disposed over the inner wall. At least one boom and a set of opposed rolls and associated fairing assemblies mounted on the boom guide the strand from the casting apparatus to the coiling apparatus. An exit end of the boom directs each strand vertically downward onto the cone of one coiler. Friction between the strand and the cone lays the strand in the basket in horizontal wraps without a reversal of the laying direction or kinks. The boom exit end mounts a straightener that includes a pair of hydraulically-actuated slide bars that are orthogonal to each other and to the strand. The slide bars produce a cyclic deflection of the strand about the center of the cone to form a uniform, non-tangled coil. The cone-straightener spacing and the cone angle are selected to produce a bend radius in the strand such that the coiled strand does not climb the inner or outer walls of the basket. The diameter of the inside wall is large enough so that the horizontal wraps collapse on one another of their own weight. The boom is hollow and has a series openings adjacent the strand to direct cooling air from the interior of the boom to the strand. In one form the boom has a generally rectangular cross section and carries strands on two vertical walls. A second exit end, positioned midway along the boom directs one strand to a second coiler.

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Needham, MA, United States of America

Terry F Bower