Electrical drives and automation for continuous casting of steel

Continuous casting¿the formation of billets, blooms and slabs direct from the liquid metal¿was first attempted in 1856 when Bessemer poured molten steel between water-cooled rolls to try to form continuous sheets of thin plate. Owing to the high temperatures involved and the low conductivity of steel when hot, difficulties were encountered, and it is only in the last 20 years that these difficulties have been overcome, so that high-production units for the continuous casting of steel could be developed