Method of producing strip comprising continuously casting plain carbon
steel into a strip of no more than 5 mm thickness and coiling the strip.
The strip is subsequently uncoiled and cold rolled then annealed to
produce a stress relieved microstructure therein. The cold rolling
produces a cold reduction sufficient to increase the tensile strength of
the strip to at least 680 MPa but is such that the total elongation to
break off the strip after the annealing is in the range 8% to 12%. The
cold rolling may produce a cold reduction of the strip thickness in the
range 40% to 80%. The continuously cast strip may be optionally in-line
hot rolled prior to coiling to produce an initial strip thickness in the
range 40% to 60%.