electric arc furnace steelmaking- k u leuven（电弧炉炼钢- k u鲁汶）.doc

Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking By Jeremy A. T. Jones, Nupro Corporation Courtesy of Mannesmann Demag Corp. ? FURNACE OPERATIONS The electric arc furnace operates as a batch melting process producing batches of molten steel known heats. The electric arc furnace operating cycle is called the tap-to-tap cycle and is made up of the following operations: Furnace charging Melting Refining De-slagging Tapping Furnace turn-around Modern operations aim for a tap-to-tap time of less than 60 minutes. Some twin shell furnace operations are achieving tap-to-tap times of 35 to 40 minutes. Furnace Charging The first step in the production of any heat is to select the grade of steel to be made. Usually a schedule is developed prior to each production shift. Thus the melter will know in advance the schedule for his shift. The scrap yard operator will prepare buckets of scrap according to the needs of the melter. Preparation of the charge bucket is an important operation, not only to ensure proper melt-in chemistry but also to ensure good melting conditions. The scrap must be layered in the bucket according to size and density to promote the rapid formation of a liquid pool of steel in the hearth while providing protection for the sidewalls and roof from electric arc radiation. Other considerations include minimization of scrap cave-ins which can break electrodes and ensuring that large heavy pieces of scrap do not lie directly in front of burner ports which would result in blow-back of the flame onto the water cooled panels. The charge can include lime and carbon or these can be injected into the furnace during the heat. Many operations add some lime and carbon in the scrap bucket and supplement this with injection. The first step in any tap-to-tap cycle is charging into the scrap. The roof and electrodes are raised and are swung to the side of the furnace to allow the scrap charging crane to move a full bucket of scrap into place over the furnace. The bucket bottom