PROCESS FOR PRODUCING COLD-ROLLED STRIPS AND SHEETS OF AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

摘要

Disclosed is a process for producing cold-rolled strips and sheets of austenitic stainless steel, which comprises preparing a cast strip having a thickness not larger than 10 mm, which is composed of an austenitic stainless steel, by a continuous casting machine, in which the wall surface of a casting mold moves synchronously with the cast strip, and cold rolling the cast strip by hard rolls having a surface hardness not lower than a Vickers hardness of 600. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that crystal grains of the cast strip are made finer by cooling the cast strip at a cooling rate of at least 50 DEG C/sec in the temperature range of from the temperature for initiation of solidification of the cast strip to 1200 DEG C and the cast strip is then cold-rolled by the hard rolls, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the hard rolls are composed of a material having a Young's modulus of at least 30000 kgf/mm<2> and the cast strip is cold-rolled by such hard rolls, and another preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that for cast strip which is descaled by pickling, especially with nitric and fluoric acid, prior to cold rolling, the cast strip is cooled at a cooling rate of at least 10 DEG C/sec in the Cr carbide-precipitating temperature range of from 900 to 550 DEG C.