Continuous casting - past, present and future

Abstract

For over a decade, Continuous Casting has been a mature technology that has prevailed in the steel industry. Conventional CC is still undergoing small but deep and subtle transformations. Thin Slab Casting is developing at a rate commensurate with the need of new capacity. Strip Casting has been limited to industrial pilot lines, although commercial implementations have been announced. In the perspective of the changes that the steel industry will have to undergo in the 21^st century (control of Greenhouse Gas emissions in particular), continuous casting will be one of the invariants to provide a degree of stability. Indeed, solidification will most probably continue to be performed on continuous casters.