Steel ingot making method

Claim 1

A method for semi-continuously casting long-length, large steel ingots comprising providing a thin walled, water-cooled, long-length mold having elastically deformable side walls and made of iron, steel or cast iron which does not thermally deform when in contact with the molten steel during pouring, pouring molten steel into said mold, withdrawing the solidifying ingot down through the mold at suitable speed without direct cooling by water until a predetermined length of ingot is obtained, moving said mold downwardly on the downward stroke of a reciprocating device and simultaneously applying a compressing, lateral motion to the elastically deformable side walls of the mold to push said side walls inwardly to press the surface of the solidifying ingot and prevent bulging of the latter caused by the static pressure of the molten steel, moving said mold upwardly on the upward stroke of said reciprocating device and simultaneously applying a relaxing lateral motion on the elastically deformable side walls of the mole to release the friction between the mold and the ingot, said downwardly and upwardly reciprocating motion of said mold and said compressing and relaxing lateral motion of said mold side walls being effected cyclically and in synchronism, whereby the drawing down of the ingot is facilitated by the cyclical and synchronized downwardly and upwardly reciprocal motion relative to said compressing and relaxing lateral motion, holding the ingot in the mold for a period of time until the ingot solidifies enough, drawing out the mold, and carrying away the ingot to further processing.

Claim 2

A method for semi-continuously casting long-length, large steel ingots comprising providing a thin walled, water-cooled, long-length mold having elastically deformable side walls and made of iron, steel or cast iron which does not thermally deform when in contact with the molten steel during pouring, pouring molten steel into said mold, withdrawing the solidifying ingot down through the mold at suitable speed without direct cooling by water until a predetermined length of ingot is obtained, moving said mold downwardly on the downward stroke of a reciprocating device and simultaneously applying a compressing, lateral motion to the elastically deformable side walls of the mold to push said side walls inwardly to press the surface of the solidifying ingot and prevent bulging of the latter caused by the static pressure of the molten steel, moving said mold upwardly on the upward stroke of said reciprocating device and simultaneously applying a relaxing lateral motion on the elastically deformable side walls of the mole to release the friction between the mold and the ingot, said downwardly and upwardly reciprocating motion of said mold and said compressing and relaxing lateral motion of said mold side walls being effected cyclically and in synchronism, whereby the drawing down of the ingot is facilitated by the cyclical and synchronized downwardly and upwardly reciprocal motion relative to said compressing and relaxing lateral motion, holding the ingot in the mold for a period of time until the ingot solidifies enough, drawing out the mold, and carrying away the ingot to further processing.