Steelmaking is the second step in producing steel from iron ore. In this stage, impurities such as sulfur, phosphorus, and excess carbon are removed from the raw iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium and vanadium are added to produce the exact steel required.
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Modern processes
Modern steelmaking processes are broken into two categories: primary and secondary steelmaking. Primary steelmaking uses mostly new iron as the feedstock, usually from a blast furnace. Secondary steelmaking uses scrap steel as the primary raw material.
Primary steelmaking
The most common primary process is the basic oxygen steelmaking process.
Secondary steelmaking
The most common secondary process is remelting scrap in an electric arc furnace.
History
The earliest means of producing steel was in a bloomery. Early modern methods of producing steel were often labour-intensive and highly skilled arts. See:
- finery forge, in which the German finery process could be managed to produce steel.
- blister steel and crucible steel.
An important aspect of the industrial revolution was the development of large-scale methods of producing forgeable metal (bar iron or steel). The puddling furnace was initially a means of producing wrought iron, but was later applied to steel production.
The real revolution in steelmaking only began at the end of the 1850s. The Bessemer converter was the first successful mass steelmaking process, followed by the open hearth furnace.
See also
External links
- U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971
- Scrap steel for steelmaking facilities information reference compendium
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 24 December 2008, at 17:56.
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