Abstract Experimental apparatus simulating a horizontal belt caster has been constructed for the study of thin strip casting of steels and light metal alloys. In this apparatus, the solidifying metal is deposited onto a moving substrate. The substrate was flame sprayed with various commercial coatings while its speed and the thicknesses of strip produced matched industrial values. The main objective of the present work was to determine the influence of various operational variables on local cooling rates and final microstructures. To this end, experiments were carried out to study the effects of various types of coating, roughness of the substrate, initial superheat, and strip thickness on heat fluxes. An interesting feature of this equipment is that the strip is subjected to different rates of cooling at the lower and upper surfaces, allowing two different rates of solidification to be studied simultaneously.