Hot metal
Hot metal turns up in 2 fields: printing, metallurgy. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Hot metal in printing
A typesetting process that casts lines of text from molten lead alloy.
A mechanical typesetting method where molten lead alloy is injected into molds to cast solid lines of type or individual characters. The metal cools instantly into a solid slug, which is then arranged into pages for letterpress printing. Once the printing is done, the slugs are melted down and reused.
"The shop still keeps a hot metal machine running for specialty letterpress jobs and foil stamping."
Hot metal in metallurgy
Liquid metal tapped from a furnace and ready for casting or further processing.
Molten metal in its liquid state, fresh from the furnace. In integrated steel mills, it specifically refers to liquid pig iron tapped from a blast furnace and transported in torpedo cars to the basic oxygen furnace, distinguishing it from cold scrap or solid ingots.
"Keep the crane clear, we've a ladle of hot metal coming down the aisle."