Method of hot-forming metals prone to crack during rolling

A method for hot rolling, directly inline with a continuous caster, a continuous bar of high impurity copper without cracking said bar during heavy reduction from the predominately as cast condition, comprising:

• (a) providing as a starting material, a molten flow of high impurity copper;
• then
• (b) continuously casting said molten flow into a continuous bar and directing the advancing solidified bar to an inline continuous hot rolling mill, said bar being in the as cast condition and at a hot-forming temperature;
• then
• (c) conditioning said bar immediately precedent to subjecting said bar to heavy reduction in said rolling mill, said conditioning being characterized in that said bar is preliminarily subjected to light reduction sufficient to cause recrystallization in a relatively thin surface shell within said bar but otherwise leaving said bar in a predominately as cast condition;
• and then
• (d) subjecting said bar to heavy reduction in at least the first roll stand following conditioning, said heavy reduction being sufficient to cause substantially complete recrystallization throughout the entire cross-section of said bar after conditioning.