Method of cooling a metal strip traveling through a cooling section of a continuous heat treatment line, and an installation for implementing said method

The invention relates to a method of cooling a metal strip traveling through a cooling section in a continuous heat treatment line. In accordance with the invention, the method consists in projecting a refrigerant medium into the cooling section (4) onto the surface of the strip (1) to be cooled, the medium being constituted for the most part by a phase-change substance that passes into the gaseous phase at a temperature that is lower than the temperature of the strip (1) and without oxidizing said strip so that energy is exchanged within an endothermic process by a change in the phase of said phase-change substance.