The electric arc furnace (EAF) is a pivotal player in modern metallurgy, revolutionizing steel production. By harnessing electrical energy, EAFs melt scrap metal, shaping it into high-quality steel. This process stands as a beacon of sustainability in the steel industry.
Intro
Electric furnace steelmaking, as the name implies, it is a kind of steelmaking process that electricity is used as energy and scrap is used as raw material.
Electric furnace has many types such as electric arc furnace(EAF), induction furnace, electroslag furnace, electron beam furnace and so on. It is noted that electric furnace steel that people usually said is made of steel produced by alkali electric arc furnace.
Speaking of electric furnace steel, we have to introduce its use, as for others, we will introduce accordingly in subsequent content. It is used to produce premium carbon structural steel, tool steel and alloy steel. These categories for steel possess high quality and excellent functions. Especially, intensity and plasticity of electric furnace steel is better than open hearth steel when carbon content is same.
What’s more, compared to blast furnace and converter furnace steelmaking, investment of infrastructure is less. Meanwhile, as a result of progress of direct reduction method, it greatly promotes development of electric furnace steelmaking.
In contemporary society, as science and technology development, more and more fields have made progress promptly, steelmaking field is no exception. It develops towards ultra high power, automatic control by computer and other directions.
Electric furnace that its volume more than 150 MT used to make ordinary steel nearly. Including, most of steel plants in a lot of countries make low carbon steel occupied a large proportion in steel yields.
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)
Lots of people who specialize in metallurgy know about electric arc furnace. Nevertheless, I believe that you absolutely know about this more or less according to its name, even if you are not expert in metallurgy. As name indicates, electric arc furnace, a kind of furnace, utilizes high temperature produced by electrode electric arc to smelt ore or metal. According to our physical knowledge learned, we know that energy is very concentrated when gas discharged electricity to form electric arc and temperature of arc region is more than 3000℃. It is more flexible to remove sulphur, phosphorus and any other impurities than other furnaces. Moreover, it is easy for people to control furnace temperature. Based on these factors that we mentioned above, it is suitable to smelt premium alloy steel.
There are many categories of EAF. And we will introduce some of them briefly.
Ultra High Power Electric Arc Furnace
Ultra high power electric arc furnace is one of electric arc furnaces. Energy inputted to electric furnace in unit time is double or triple than ordinary electricity arc furnace. This is the reason why it was called ultra high power.
It has plenty of merits: To begin with, due to ultra high power, more energy inputted to electric furnace, it shortens melting time, therefore, it is effective to improve labour productivity. Secondly, it reduces electricity consumption further so that improve thermal efficiency and so on.
Direct Current Arc Furnace
Direct current(DC) arc furnace that first used in actual production in the world was manufactured in Germany about 40 years ago. Operation is similar to alternative current(AC) arc furnace. Some molten steel reserve during tapping in order to ensure good contact. This is the only factor to focus on, compared to alternative current arc furnace.
Lower consumption of electrode is major merit for it. Consumption of electrode is half of three-phase AC arc furnace approximately. Nevertheless, every coin has two sides. Because it was still consummated continuously, it has many problems such as bad contact between bottom electrode and furnace charge, bottom electrode has bad heat dissipation and so on. Besides, if electricity charge is high in city your steel plant located, costs will be expensive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the electric arc furnace epitomizes innovation in metallurgy, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional steelmaking. Its efficient use of electrical energy and reliance on scrap metal contribute to a greener future for the steel industry, making the EAF a vital component in the quest for eco-friendly manufacturing.
