CASTING EQUIPMENT STARTER BLOCK

摘要

Equipment for the semi-continuous direct chill (DC) casting of sheet ingot or slabs of different dimensions, in particular for rolling purposes. The equipment includes a mould frame (2) with a pair of facing long side walls (3) and a pair of facing short end walls (4) where the walls define an upwardly open inlet for the supply of metal and a downwardly facing outlet. The outlet is provided with a starter block (6) on a movable support which prior to each casting closes the opening. The equipment includes means for changing the mould dimensions where at least one end wall can be displaced to enable casting of ingots with different sizes, The equipment further includes means for indirect and direct cooling of the metal during casting, and optionally means for flexing of the long side walls of the mould to compensate for shrinkage of the metal during casting, The starter block (6) is provided with short end and long end walls (9, 11) whereof at least one short end wall (11) is movably provided in relation to the mould and thereby may be adjusted to the desired ingot mould dimension prior to casting.