Method of rolling a continuously cast ingots

In a method of rolling continuous cast ingots which are periodically withdrawn from a mould, including the use of a stand with reversibly rotatable shaped rolls each having at least one working portion, with the reversible rotation of the rolls being limited to an angle encompassing said working roll portion comprising a shaped section and two cylindrical sections located at the edges of the above section having different radii, one radius being large and corresponding to a final thickness of an ingot being rolled and one radius being small and corresponding to the thickness of the ingot being cast, the shaped section being arcuate so as to provide a prescribed drafting schedule to the ingot portion being rolled, said method comprising the following steps:

• feeding an ingot being cast to a rolling mill;
• forming an ingot head by reducing said ingot to a final thickness corresponding to the cylindrical section of the large radius of the roll working portion and further rolling the remaining portion of the ingot by progressive repeated reduction between the shaped rolls of the stand through reciprocation against the direction of movement of the ingot and in the direction of movement of the ingot, the stand with the shaped rolls incorporated therein being set prior to each reciprocating stroke to such a position that during each next working stroke of the stand the ingot is rolled between the shaped sections of the rolls only with a preset reduction degree;
• said further rolling including the operations of (a) setting the rolls of the movable stand to one of their extreme positions, (b) displacing the stand in a "backward" direction with respect to the ingot direction to a position corresponding to the subsequent preset reduction of the ingot, (c) carrying the stand further "backward" together with the rotating rolls while reducing the ingot first between the cylindrical roll sections with large radii of the roll working portion, then between the shaped roll sections, and finally between the cylindrical sections with small radii, said cylindrical sections with small radii tempering the ingot and eliminating any slight bulging of the ingot being cast at the end of the stand "backward" stroke, (d) setting the rolls of the movable stand to another extreme position, (e) moving the stand with stopped rolls further "backward" at a distance which is the function of the required reduction during a successive "forward" stroke of the stand, (f) reversing the rolls of the movable stand until they grip the ingot and (g) carrying the stand "forward" together with the rotating rolls while successively tempering the ingot between the cylindrical sections with small radii on the roll working portions and reducing the ingot between the shaped roll sections and then between the cylindrical sections with large radii of the working roll portions, the ingot portion rolled between the cylindrical sections with large radii is that resulting from the stand extension during two reciprocating stand strokes, (h) removing the work rolls of the movable stand from contact with the rolled ingot, (i) displacing said movable stand in a "backward" direction at a distance which is the function of the preset reduction during the next "backward" stroke of the stand, (j) repeating the "backward" -- "forward" strokes of the stand until the portion of the ingot extracted from the mould over the withdrawal period is rolled out, (k) carrying the movable stand with the stopped rolls "forward" at a distance equal to the ingot length extracted from the mould over the withdrawal period, and repeating the rolling cycles after each next extraction of the ingot being cast from the mould so as to enable the rolling of the remaining portion of the ingot being cast.