Electric Arc Furnace Steel Making Process

Electric arc furnace steel making process is a steelmaking method that utilizes the conversion of electrical energy into thermal energy to heat and melt the charge through the arc formed between the graphite electrode and the metal charge.

Before understanding the EAF steelmaking process, we must first understand the characteristics of the electric arc furnaces.

Characteristics of Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking

Industrial electric furnace use electricity as a heat source to avoid contamination of molten steel by burning fuel, and have high thermal efficiency, which can reach more than 65%; .

During metal smelting, the temperature of the smelting pool is high and easy to control, which can meet the requirements of smelting different types of steel;

Industrial electric arc furnaces have simple equipment, short steelmaking process, small footprint, low investment, fast plant construction, and flexible production.

For smelting metals, EAF have greater process flexibility than other steelmaking furnaces, can effectively remove impurities such as sulfur and phosphorus, the furnace temperature is easy to control, the equipment occupies a small area, and is suitable for the smelting of high-quality alloy steel.

Electric arc furnace steelmaking can consume scrap steel, which is a process of recycling and reusing iron resources, and is also an environmentally friendly technology for dealing with pollution. It is equivalent to a recycling tool for scrap steel in the steel industry and society.

Electric Arc Furnace Steel Making Process

1. Basic Process:

- Slag removal & furnace filling: clean up the slag from the previous furnace and make necessary repairs to the furnace lining.

- Loading metal charge: add scrap steel, pig iron blocks, sponge iron and other raw materials into the furnace.

- Electricity melting: Electric energy is input into the furnace through graphite electrodes to generate an arc to melt the charge.

- Oxidation period:Oxygen is blown in at high temperature to oxidize carbon, silicon, manganese and other elements in the steel, while removing some impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur. A large amount of CO gas will be formed at this stage to promote the stirring and homogenization of the molten steel.

- Reduction refining period: Add deoxidizers (such as aluminum, ferrosilicon, etc.) and alloying elements to adjust the composition and temperature of the steel, further remove gases and inclusions in the steel, and improve the quality of the steel.

- Steel tapping: Pour the smelted molten steel into the ladle to prepare for subsequent pouring or continuous casting processes.

2. Classification Characteristics:

- Alkaline method: Use alkaline refractory materials as furnace lining, and produce alkaline slag during the smelting process. Its characteristics are that it can remove sulfur and phosphorus from the raw materials, so that the sulfur and phosphorus content in the finished steel is low. This method is suitable for smelting high-quality alloy steel and high-quality steel.

- Acid method: Acidic refractory materials are used as furnace linings, and SiO2-saturated acidic slag is produced during the smelting process. This method cannot effectively desulfurize and dephosphorize, so it requires that the scrap steel has a low sulfur and phosphorus content. The acid method is mainly used to produce some ordinary quality steel castings.

3. Advantages:

- High flexibility:The smelting process and composition can be adjusted according to different production needs to adapt to the production of various types of steel.

- Good product quality: Since the temperature and composition can be precisely controlled during the smelting process, the quality of the steel produced is high and can meet the needs of high-end products.

- Good environmental protection: Compared with traditional converter steelmaking, electric arc furnace steelmaking produces less smoke and exhaust gas, and the pollution to the environment is relatively small.

- Development prospects: With the continuous increase of scrap steel resources, the development of the power industry and the continuous advancement of smelting technology, the application prospects of industrial electric furnaces are broad.

In the future, steelmaking electric arc furnaces will occupy a more important position in steel production, especially in the production of high-quality steel and special steel.

In general, the electric arc furnace steel making process is an important steelmaking method with the advantages of flexibility, high efficiency and environmental protection. In the future development of the steel industry, electric arc furnace steelmaking will continue to play an important role, and EAF steelmaking technology will continue to develop in the direction of high efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection to meet the society's demand for high-quality steel.