Continuous casting followed by direct rolling (CC-DR) offers steel makers the opportunity for substantial energy savings and reduced capital expenditures which in turn can reduce cost. Development of continuous casting and semi-solid rolling offers even greater cost saving potentials but widespread commercialization presents new technical challenges.

Until now most developments in CCDR and semi-solid rolling have been made using pilot mills or full size mills for experimental work. These methods are costly, and instrumenting the process in a mill application is difficult. The alternative method has been to use laboratory melting apparatus or traditional hot deformation machines.