Patent ID: 8186422

Claim:
A method for the continuous casting of thin metal strip ( 1 ) in a continuous casting installation ( 2 ), comprising the steps of: discharging metal vertically downward from a mold ( 3 ); deflecting the metal strip ( 1 ) from a vertical direction (V) to a horizontal direction (H); and supporting and/or conveying and/or plastically deforming the metal strip ( 1 ) by a number of pairs of drive rolls ( 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ), at least one pair of drive rolls ( 8 , 9 , 10 ) being disposed after the deflection of the metal strip into the horizontal direction, wherein said at least one pair of drive rolls ( 8 , 9 , 10 ) plastically deforms the metal strip ( 1 ) after the metal strip is deflected into the horizontal direction, without significant change in a mean thickness (d) of the metal strip ( 1 ), said mean thickness being the mean value of all values of the thickness (d) over the width of the metal strip ( 1 ), to have a change in the mean thickness of less than 5%, such that the deformation in the pairs of drive rolls ( 8 , 9 , 10 ) produces material flow exclusively in a direction transverse to a direction of conveyance (F) of the metal strip ( 1 ) and such that a profile and a thickness taper of the metal strip are actively improved by eliminating all or most of any wedging of the metal strip ( 1 ) that may be present in the width direction thereof and held constant for a subsequent rolling process.