WHAT IS STEEL?

• Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements. Because of its high tensile
strength and low cost, it is a major component used
in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF STEEL?

According to the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI), Steel can be categorized into four basic groups
based on the chemical compositions:
Carbon Steel
Alloy Steel
Stainless Steel
Tool Steel

CARBON STEEL

• Carbon steels contain trace amounts of alloying elements and account for 90% of total steel
production. Carbon steels can be further categorized into three groups depending on their
carbon content:

• Low Carbon Steel (Mild Steel): Typically contain 0.04% to 0.30% carbon content. This is one of
the largest groups of Carbon Steel. It covers a great diversity of shapes; from Flat Sheet to
Structural Beam. Depending on the desired properties needed, other elements are added or
increased.

• Medium Carbon Steel: Typically has a carbon range of 0.31% to 0.60%, and a manganese
content ranging from .060% to 1.65%. This product is stronger than low carbon steel, and it is
more difficult to form, weld and cut. Medium carbon steels are quite often hardened and
tempered using heat treatment.

• High Carbon Steel: Commonly known as “carbon tool steel” it typically has a carbon range
between 0.61% and 1.50%. High carbon steel is very difficult to cut, bend and weld. Once heat
treated it becomes extremely hard and brittle.

Alloy Steels

• Alloy steels contain alloying elements (e.g. manganese, silicon, nickel, titanium, copper,
chromium, and aluminum) in varying proportions in order to manipulate the steel's properties,
such as its hardenability, corrosion resistance, strength, formability, weldability or ductility.
Applications for alloys steel include pipelines, auto parts, transformers, power generators and
electric motors.
Stainless Steels

• Stainless steels generally contain between 10-20% chromium as the main alloying element and
are valued for high corrosion resistance. With over 11% chromium, steel is about 200 times
more resistant to corrosion than mild steel. These steels can be divided into three groups based
on their crystalline structure:

Tool Steels

• Tool steels contain tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt and vanadium in varying quantities to
increase heat resistance and durability, making them ideal for cutting and drilling equipment.

WHAT ARE THE RAW MATERIALS?

• Iron ore- are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted

• Limestone- is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form
of the mineral calcite.

• Coke-is used as a fuel and a reducing agent in melting iron ore.

Body diagram for steel production:

Preparing Raw
Sinter Plant Furnace
Materials

Basic Oxygen Hot Metal Hot Metal

Furnace Pretreatment Pretreatment

Secondary Steel Continuous

Refining Caster
Preparing the raw material
For iron ore:

Its starts in the mine or quarry where it’s obtained. The first process the impurities are
removed, When the de gaunge is separated from the ore. The second process the mineral is washed
from dirt , it’s crushed to sand and then the sand is sieve and again separated from the ore.

For limestone:

Limestone is extracted from the rock either by blasting or mechanical excavation

depending on the hardness of the rock. After crushing the stone is sorted into different fractions by
screening, after which it goes to be processed further. In the grinding process the limestone is ground to
a fine powder.

For Coke:

From the coke plant coke is heated in extremely high temperature to produced coke.
Coking coal is converted to coke by driving off impurities to leave al most pure carbon. The physical
properties of coking coal cause the coal to soften, liquefy and then resolidify into hard but porous lumps
when heated in the absence of air.

Sintering Process
• Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat or
pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction. Iron ore and limestone are heated
together to create steel sinter uses in furnace. During this process the layers reach
temperatures of approximately 1300°C, fusing the pre-blended fine ore mix together forming a
solid clinker mass. This fused mix is broken down into lumps, cooled and screened, forming a
sinter product with a mean size of 23-26 m which is sent to the blast furnace on conveyors .
Industrial Electrostatic Precipitator Dust Collector:

Originally designed for recovery of valuable industrial-process materials, electrostatic precipitators are
used for air pollution control, particularly for removing particles from waste gases at industrial facilities
and power-generating stations.

Electrostatic smoke precipitators work by forcing dirty flue gas (the gas escaping from a smokestack)
past two electrodes (electrical terminals), which take the form of metal wires, bars, or plates inside a
pipe or smokestack. The first electrode is charged to a very high negative voltage.

FURNACE
• Blast furnace- is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals,
generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air
being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric pressure. Modern blast furnaces range
in size from 20 to 35 m (70 to 120 feet), have hearth diameters of 6 to 14 m (20 to 45 feet), and
can produce from 1,000 to almost 10,000 tons of pig iron daily.
• Cupula Furnace- is a melting device used in foundries that can be used to melt cast iron, Ni-
resist iron and some bronzes. The cupola can be made almost any practical size. The size of
a cupola is expressed in diameters and can range from 1.5 to 13 feet (0.5 to 4.0 m). Cupola
furnace, in steelmaking, a vertical cylindrical furnace used for melting iron either for casting or
for charging in other furnaces. ... Iron, coke, and limestone flux are placed on a bed of coke high
enough to hold the iron above the tuyere openings, where the temperature is the highest.

• Induction Furnace- As the name implies, these melting furnaces use induction technology with
alternating electric currents to apply the required heat to melt the metal. The electric furnace
used for melting metals makes the process energy efficient when compared to other types of
melting furnaces. Most of the global foundries use induction furnace instead of the cupola to
melt brass or cast iron. Besides that, induction furnaces are preferable for melting an array of
metals including steel, iron, aluminum, and copper. Since it uses induction over combustion, the
thermal energy required to melt the metal will be adequate; thus, it will cost savings to the die
casters. The furnace can melt from less than 1 KG range to up to 100 tons.
Hot Metal Pretreatment
• Hot metal pretreatment is a process performed on hot metal after the tapping of a BF (blast
furnace) and before decarburization in a BOF (basic oxygen furnace). In most cases, this process
lowers the impurity content of the hot metal. Hot metal desulfurization, desiliconization, and
dephosphorization are all processes that are included in this category.Among the various
reactions that take place, desulfurization plays the most important role in hot metal
pretreatment.

Basic Oxygen Furnace

• Basic oxygen steelmaking, also known as Linz–Donawitz-steelmaking or the oxygen converter
process is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into
steel. Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and
changes it into low-carbon steel.
Secondary Steel Refining
• The remaining impurities are removed from the molten steel.

• The steel refining process is divided into two categories: primary refining, which is designed to
remove carbon from pig iron, and other refining processes conducted after the primary refining,
which are collectively called secondary refining. Secondary refining removes impurities and
adjusts elements. Secondary refining usually takes place in the ladle, a transportation vessel for
molten steel. It is very important for the production of high-grade steel. Examples include LF,
RH, and VAD

• Electric Arc Furnace -An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats charged material by
means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately
one ton capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to about 400 ton units
used for secondary steelmaking.
Continuous Caster
• Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified
into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills.

• Slab- Material to be rolled into sheets

• Bloom- Material exclusively to be rolled in to H-shape steel

• Billet- Material to be rolled in to bar and shapes

Steel industry is also a source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions which is generated during iron
and steel making operations, either as a result of the reaction of carbon (coke) with iron oxide in the
blast furnace, or from a power plant producing electricity used in the production of steel.
Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing: National Emission Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants:
• This rule establishes national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for
integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities. The final standards establish emission
limitations for hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emitted from new and existing sinter plants, blast
furnaces, and basic oxygen process furnace (BOPF) shops. The final standards will implement
section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) by requiring all major sources to meet HAP emission
standards reflecting application of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT).

• The HAP emitted by integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities include metals (primarily
manganese and lead with small quantities of other metals) and trace amounts of organic HAP
(such as polycyclic organic matter, benzene, and carbon disulfide). Exposure to these substances
has been demonstrated to cause adverse health effects, including chronic and acute disorders of
the blood, heart, kidneys, reproductive system, and central nervous system.
 BISU-MC
CEA
CITY OF TAGBILARAN

STEEL PRODUCTION PROCESSES

LORENZ CARL B. UGAT

BSME 5A

ENGR. ADOLFO SALISE JR

INSTRUCTOR