Hollow tube rounds through continuous casting

Summary

Since the earliest days of continuous casting, proposals have been made for the casting of sections which resemble the final product as closely as possible. For the casting of hollow sections, such proposals go back to 1869.

To date, continuous-casting processes for tube-type sections employ water-cooled mandrels or cores in the mold so that the ring-shaped space between the mold and the core determines the dimensions of the tube blank. Other processes use tubes that are surrounded by liquid metal in order to form an integral part of the hollow casting.

At Kapfenberg, a new process was developed by utilizing investigations on the growth of solid shells in square and round castings during which a large number of castings were drained of the liquid core by cutting through the shell. This process permits the casting of tube-type sections without the use of mandrels or cores, the principle being to use the shell as a continuous vessel.

A pilot machine was built at Kapfenberg, and tube-type sections of 150 mm OD and 30–80 mm ID were cast successfully.

Details concerning the pilot plant, results, and metallurgical aspects of the coreless continuous-casting process have been outlined. Possibilities concerning further development of the process were also discussed.