System and process for forming thin flat hot rolled steel strip

A continuous process for making flat hot rolled steel or ferrous metal having a thickness sufficient to allow substantially direct product manufacture therefrom, consisting essentially of the steps of:

• feeding a continuously cast endless slab of steel or ferrous metal into a Platzer planetary mill to effect a first reduction in thickness from the as-continuously cast thickness of said slab to produce a continuous hot strip having a first reduced thickness;
• sequentially receiving, without an intervening cooling step, said continuous hot strip from said Platzer planetary mill by a plurality of non-reversing millstands to effect a second reduction in thickness of at least about 50% of said first reduced thickness such that said continuous hot strip has an average thickness of less than about 1.8 mm;
• and
• reheating said continuous hot strip between adjacent millstands by reheating means located therebetween to maintain said continuous strip sheet at a working temperature sufficient to effect said second reduction in thickness.