Category: Steelmaking

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• What is steel made of?
• Which two main processes can be distinguished in steel production from iron ore?
• What is ore smelting?
• What are iron ores made of?
• What is gangue?
• What are iron ore deposits?
• Why are iron ores processed?
• What is the purpose of flotation and magnetic separation?
• What is sintering and pelletizing of iron ores?

Continue reading Iron ore mining and dressing

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• What is charge?
• What is meant by charging a blast furnace?
• What is the function of the slag in the blast furnace process?
• What is the slag used for?
• What is a coking plant?
• What is the difference between coal and coke?
• How is the hot blast generated in Cowpers?
• What is the function of the charging bells?
• Why does the material to be loaded have to be pressure-resistant?
• What is called tapping?

Continue reading Ironworks

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• Why is carbon used for the blast furnace process?
• How important is the “Boudouard reaction” for the blast furnace process?
• What chemical processes distinguish indirect reduction from direct reduction of iron ores?
• What is carburization?
• How much carbon does pig iron contain?
• What is the difference between metastable and stable solidification?
• What is “grey pig iron” and “white pig iron”?
• In which “solidification form” is pig iron mostly tapped?

Continue reading Blast furnace process

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• How does the direct reduction of iron ores work?
• What is sponge iron?
• How is crude steel obtained in the electric arc furnace?
• What are the advantages of the electric steel process?

Continue reading Direct reduced iron process

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• Why is pig iron brittle?
• What are red shortness and hot shortness?
• What ist Linz–Donawitz-steelmaking?
• Why is scrap added to the oxygen converter process?

Continue reading From pig iron to crude steel

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• What is secondary metallurgy?
• What is rimmed steel, semi-killed steel and killed steel?
• For what purpose is vacuum treatment carried out?
• How does the electro-slag remelting (electro-flux remelting) work?

Continue reading From crude steel to steel

This article provides answers to the following questions, among others:

• What are slabs?
• What are bottom and top pouring?
• What are the advantages of rimmed steel?
• Why is only killed steel suitable for continuous casting?
• What are billets?

Continue reading From steel to semi-finished products