High Temperature Material Processes (An International Quarterly of High-Technology Plasma Processes) An International Journal

ISSN for PRINT: 1093-3611

For Online Access

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2000, Volume4

Issue 1

156 pages

Issue price - $144.00

Dieter Neuschutz
Lehrstuhl fur Theoretische Huttenkunde, Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, D-52056 Aachen, Germany

Steelmaking in the electric arc furnace (EAF) has been and continues to be a strongly expanding technology. Its share of the world's total steel production has been growing from 10 % in 1960 to 22 % in 1980 and to 33 % in 1997 and will eventually reach 40 %. Starting off as a mere scrap melting process, the EAF technology has become much more flexible with regard to input materials including direct-reduced iron, iron carbide and hot metal, and with respect to input energies like gas, oil and coal in addition to electric power. A great number of different inprovements concerning process technology and furnace components have contributed to the EAF sucess story: Ultra-high power technology, foaming slag practice, water-cooled roofs and walls, improved graphite electrodes, the DC technology, scrap preheating, twin-shell furnaces, and sophisticated process control. The expansion of the EAF technology has recently been boosted by the development of thin slab and strip casting machines which opened the way to mini-mills for flat products. Further improvements might be achieved by injecting molecular gases into the arcs leading to higher arc voltages and - at constant power - to lower arc currents which would in turn reduce the graphite electrode wear.

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