Customer Technical Symposium Steelmaking 101

Todays Topics
Steelmaking Flowline Blast Furnace Basic Oxygen Furnace: BOF Vacuum Degasser Continuous Casting Hot Strip Mill Pickler Cold Strip Mill Box Annealing Temper Mill Hot Dip Coating Line Electrogalvanizing Line

Steelmaking Flowline

Pellets Iron Ore Sinter

Blast Furnace

Scrap

Electric Furnace

Limestone

Crushed

Lime & Flux

Oxygen Coal Coke Ovens

Artwork: American Iron and Steel Institute

Slag

Molten Iron

Basic Oxygen Furnace

Steelmaking Flowline

Ladle Metallurgy

Slab

Hot Strip

Pickling

Cold Strip

Annealing Continuous Casting

Temper Rolling

Coating

Artwork: American Iron and Steel Institute

Basic Steelmaking Flow

COKE OVENS BLAST FURNACE

BASIC OXYGEN FURNACE SHIPPING

CONTINUOUS CASTER SHIPPING

ANNEALING COLD STRIP MILL PICKLING HOT STRIP MILL

SHIPPING SHIPPING TEMPER MILL COATING LINE

Blast Furnace

Recipe IRON ORE + LIMESTONE + COKE + HOT AIR

Blast Furnace Raw Materials

PELLETS

SINTER

CRUSHED

COKE

Blast Furnace
Input
air
Iron ore, coke, limestone and heated

Metallurgy
Chemical reactions cause heating, reduction and melting Impurities separate and float on top of the molten iron as slag

Output
Molten Iron (Pig Iron) is cast into

Torpedo Cars Transferred to Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)

Blast Furnace

Blast Furnace
COKE (carbon) + OXYGEN C+O2 CARBON MONOXIDE + HEAT CO + HEAT

IRON ORE + CARBON MONOXIDE FeO + CO

IRON + CARBON DIOXIDE Fe + CO2

LIMESTONE SLAG - LIQUID BLANKET - FLOATS ON IRON BATH

Basic Oxygen Furnace: BOF

Input
Molten iron, scrap, and high purity

oxygen

Metallurgy
Impurities are oxidized and some separate / float on top of the molten steel as slag

Output
Molten steel is tapped into a ladle

Transferred to the Continuous Caster after chemistry adjustments or vacuum degassing

Basic Oxygen Furnace: BOF

OXYGEN + CARBON OXYGEN + MANGANESE

CO

+ HEAT

MnO (SLAG)

OXYGEN + PHOSPHORUS

P2O5 (SLAG) SiO2 (SLAG)

OXYGEN + SILICON

Basic Oxygen Furnace: BOF

Vacuum Degasser
Input
Molten steel from basic oxygen furnace (BOF)
To Vacuum Pump

Metallurgy
Vacuum degasser snorkels inserted into ladle of molten steel Argon gas siphons molten steel through a vacuum chamber Dissolved gases and carbon are
removed
Inert Gas Inlet

Ladle

Output
Ultra-low carbon steel

Transferred to the Continuous Caster

Continuous Caster
Input
Molten steel from ladle is transferred into a holding vessel (tundish) on top of the Continuous Caster The tundish continuously meters molten steel into a water-cooled, oscillating mold via a Submerged Entry Nozzle (SEN)

Output
Solid slabs are torch-cut Slabs transferred to Hot Strip Mill for Rolling

Continuous Caster

Hot Strip Mill

Input
Slabs from the Continuous Caster are reheated and placed on a rolling table Six roughing mill stands reduce slabs thickness to 1.25 producing a bar The bar is sent through seven additional 4-high finishing mill stands to further reduce thickness

Output
Hot bands from <0.1 to 0.375 thick Transferred to Pickler or shipped to Customer

Hot Strip Mill

Pickler
Input
Hot bands of steel are processed through a chemical bath to remove surface oxides

Output
Pickled (Oiled) Band - free of surface rust and scale Transferred to Cold Mill or Shipped to Customer.

Cold Strip Mill

Input
Pickled Bands are rolled through five mill stands (4 or 6-High)

Output
Cold Roll Full Hard coils with proper thickness and surface finish Transferred to Box Annealing, Hot Dip Coating Line or shipped to Customer

Box Annealing
Input
Cold rolled Full Hard coils are stacked, covered and a non-oxidizing atmosphere is introduced A furnace is lowered over the cover and fired to a prescribed cycle of time and temperature

Output
Annealed steel with improved mechanical properties Transferred to Temper Mill

Temper Mill
Input
Annealed coils

Output
Cold Roll steel with continuous yielding, improved flatness and a uniform surface texture Thickness typically reduced <1% Shipped to Customer or transferred to the Electrogalvanizing Line

Hot Dip Coating Line

Input
Coils are welded together for continuous processing Continuous annealing in-line Continuous coating on both sides Zinc or Aluminum

Output
Hot Dip Galvanized, Galvannealed or Aluminized steel Shipped to Customer

Electrogalvanized Line
Input
Cold Roll (Box Annealed & Tempered) coils are welded together and continuously processed through the line Plating cells use electric current to apply zinc to the steel

Output
Electrogalvanized steel Shipped to Customer

Electrogalvanized Line

Questions?