The present article is a sequel to the previous review on the history of near net shape strip casting facilities. The present review focuses on technical progress made in strip casting over the last three decades. Strip casting is a revolutionary technology that promises the hope for an efficient, economical and environmentally-friendly process to produce hot-rolled, steel sheets. This review provides a summary of the theory, recent research, and progress, in the developments of strip casting operations for steels, along with technical discussions regarding the characteristics and design features of steel strip casting machines. Two strip casting processes are discussed in detail; the Twin-Roll Casting (TRC) process and the Horizontal Single-Belt Casting (HSBC) process. Particular emphasis is placed on topics such as the commercial potential for strip casting technology in the steel industry, and the economic and environmental advantages of direct strip production, versus current continuous casting, fixed mold technologies.

With increasing competition in the global steel market, strip casting technology potentially offers an efficient, economical and environmentally-friendly approach to the production of hot-rolled, coiled steel. This review provides a summary of the basic theory and history in the developments of strip casting operations of steels, along with technical discussions regarding various strip casting initiatives that have been carried out in the past, as well as present. Two strip casting processes are discussed in detail; Twin-Roll Casting (TRC) and Horizontal Single-Belt Casting (HSBC). With its inevitable logic, the emergence of strip casting technology could have an enormous impact on the world's steel industry. This present paper reviews the progress of strip casting technology for steel from a historical perspective, and this will be followed by a sequel, reviewing recent technical developments in the field.

Horizontal Single Belt Casting (HSBC) is a near net shape strip casting technology that will probably gain significant prominence in the coming years. Fluid mechanics and associated heat and mass transfer are important aspects of any continuous casting process, and the HSBC process is no exception.In this study, mathematical models have been developed, using ANSYS FLUENT 14, to assess various aspects of the HSBC process for the Al-Mg-Sc-Zr system. Specific emphasis is placed on a) the effects of substrate surface properties on strip quality, b) liquid metal-air two-phase interactions and meniscus behavior, c) heat fluxes between the metal and substrate, and d) solidification behavior during strip casting.These predictions are validated against experimental casting results. A 5000 series Al-Mg alloy, with added Sc and Zr, shows exceptional potential as a structural material for aerospace and transportation applications. It is also a suitable material to be produced via the HSBC process. Optical microscopy, SEM and EBSD analyses were conducted to compare the potential advantages of casting this alloy via the HSBC process versus conventionally produced Direct Chill Casting.

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Background: Our objective was to explore the safety and feasibility of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the neoadjuvant treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods: Embase, PubMed and Web of Science were systematically searched from 1 st January 2018 to 1 st August 2021 for studies with data on the treatment-related adverse reactions (TRAE), immune-related adverse events (irAE), perioperative information, major pathological response (MPR), pathologic complete remission (pCR) and objective response rate (ORR). The QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess the quality of the studies, then the data were transformed for meta-analysis. Review Manager 5.3 (Cochrane) was used for statistical analyses with a P value of <0.05 considered significant.Results: Thirteen studies with 358 patients were included in this meta-analysis, of which, 218 patients received ICI and chemotherapy-containing regimens and 140 patients received neoadjuvant ICIs only.The 157 (72.0%) patients who received combined neoadjuvant therapy showed a higher incidence of TRAEs, while only 37 (26.4%) patients who received neoadjuvant ICIs experienced TRAEs. Grade 3 or higher irAEs were observed in 92 (25.7%) patients, of which, 81 patients belonged to the neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy subgroup. The surgical resection rate was between 38.5-100%, with only two patients experiencing a delay in surgery. Complication rates were between 3.6-100% in the 8 studies that reported postoperative complications, with more postoperative complications [35 (18.9%)] identified in the neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy subgroup. Of which 176 patients achieved MPR, 126 received ICI and chemotherapy combined neoadjuvant therapy. Seventy-one of 95 patients who had achieved pCR had undergone ICI and chemotherapy. Compared with the neoadjuvant immunotherapy group, patients undergoing ICI and chemotherapy achieved more radiological response [118 (54.1%)] than patients undergoing ICIs [25 (17.9%)] only. The odds ratio (OR) value of the MPR/pCR/ORR rate in the neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy group was higher [OR =0.55/0.32/0.39, 95% confidence interval (

Horizontal single belt casting (HSBC) is a near net shape casting process in which molten metal is directly cast into thin strips, at high cooling rates (order of several 100°C/s), with the potential for high volume, friction free, continuous production of metal strips. This casting process was used in the present work to produce strips of Al-Mg alloys in the AA5000 series, with additions of Sc and Zr. Such aluminum alloys show exceptional potential as a structural material for transportation/aerospace applications. To demonstrate the suitability of the HSBC process to manufacture competitive strip products of Al-Mg-Sc-Zr, the mechanical properties and microstructures of the strips produced using the HSBC process were compared with conventionally cast products. The effects of annealing on the mechanical properties of the strip-cast Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloys were also investigated.

Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloys have shown exceptional potential as structural materials for transportation applications. These alloys have proved to be good candidates to be processed as thin strips via the horizontal single belt casting (HSBC) process. The HSBC process is a near-net-shape casting technology, which involves casting molten metal directly into thin strips, close to the final product thickness, at higher cooling rates than conventional continuous casting and thin-slab casting processes. It offers an efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly approach to the production of metal strips. Fluid mechanics and associated heat transfer are important aspects of any casting process, and the novel HSBC process is no exception. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations using ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 were performed, in order to assess the importance and effects of the various operational conditions of the HSBC process. This enabled process parameter optimization. Numerical predictions were validated against experimental casting results.

Gas bubbling through a ladle shroud can be an effective approach for the removal of inclusions. However, an exposed eye of steel often appears in the slag cover surrounding the ladle shroud, owing to re‐surfacing bubbles leading to the formation of an exposed eye of steel, termed a “slag eye,” resulting in heat losses and re‐oxidation of the liquid steel. In order to control the formation of such a “slag eye” during gas injection into the shroud, a novel ladle shroud is employed to produce micro‐bubbles, as small as 0.54 mm in diameter. The water model results revealed that reducing the sizes of bubbles that are created in the ladle shroud could effectively limit the formation of a “slag eye,” provided the bubbles are sufficiently small and dispersed. This allows them to pass through the top layer of slag without breaking it up. For a given inflow velocity and shroud configuration, the critical condition for forming a “slag eye” depends on a balance between the gas flow rate and the individual sizes of bubbles penetrating the upper slag layer. Slag layer behavior is also simulated numerically, using a three‐dimensional CFD model. Numerical predictions are in good agreement with corresponding experimental results.