06-24-2016, 10:15 AM
Thanks for posting that photo, Bear. That certainly is a large ingot mould, but a very rough calculation puts its weight at about only 150 tons. Clearly, the car's low deck is as important as its carrying capacity in this example.
That mould appears to be for a big-end-up ingot, which would be removed from the mould rather than having the mould stripped from it. Such moulds were generally used for fully-killed steel, usually made with very specific alloys for specialty uses. Re-heating such ingots for rolling required very specific procedures, and, depending on the temperature at which that ingot was placed in a soaking pit, could take days to accomplish.
It's difficult for me to imagine its end-use, and the machinery and procedures to get it to that stage.
Wayne
That mould appears to be for a big-end-up ingot, which would be removed from the mould rather than having the mould stripped from it. Such moulds were generally used for fully-killed steel, usually made with very specific alloys for specialty uses. Re-heating such ingots for rolling required very specific procedures, and, depending on the temperature at which that ingot was placed in a soaking pit, could take days to accomplish.
It's difficult for me to imagine its end-use, and the machinery and procedures to get it to that stage.
Wayne