Continuous casting furnace and die system of modular design

Abstract

A continuous casting furnace (10) of modular design. The furnace is made of a crucible section (16) a feed section (18) and a die section (12). Each of these various sections are separable from the other parts, and each of these parts is in turn made up of various individual components. Thus, the crucible section includes a refractory liner (24) made of a non carbon containing material which may be disposed within a monolithic graphite crucible (22). The graphite crucible is provided with a cylindrical aperture at its bottom which receives a feed tube (30), there being a soft seal (32) between the bottom of the liner (24) and the top of the feed tube (30). The feed section and the die section are generally formed in the same manner in that there is a non carbon containing refractory tubular member (48, 64) disposed within a graphite member (50, 62). Between the feed section (18) and the die section (12) is a soft seal (66). The soft seals ( 34, 66) are formed of a soft felt or the like fabricated from aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide or other suitable fibers which may be impregnated with a boron nitride slurry. The various parts are held together using conventional fastening means.