Secondary steelmaking

Increasingly today, steels after they have been tapped (poured) from the furnace undergo a further stage of processing called secondary steelmaking before the steel is cast. This applies to both the basic oxygen process route and to the electric arc furnace route.

Ladle metallurgy (secondary steelmaking). The molten steel is tapped from the furnace into a ladle. A lid is placed over the ladle to conserve heat. A range of different processes is then available, such as stirring with argon, adding alloys, vacuum de-gassing or powder injection.

The objective in all cases is to fine tune the chemical composition of the steel and/or to improve homogenisation of temperature (making sure that the steel is the same temperature throughout) and remove impurities. Ladle arc heating is a process used to ensure that the molten steel is at exactly the correct temperature for casting.

Image 1 © Corus

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