How is steel made

However, to influence the properties of the metal, other alloying elements can be added. These include chromium, nickel or aluminum. The main difference between the two methods is the type of raw material that is used. While the blast furnace process mostly consumes iron ore, coal and recycled steel, the electric arc furnace method, on the other hand, relies primarily on electricity and recycled steel.

The mass production of steel via blast furnace was introduced by the Englishman Henry Bessemer in In the process, iron and coke are combined in the furnace. Moreover, a small amount of flux is added. Thus, the scrap melts in the vessel and the impurities oxidize. The result is liquid steel. The molten steel can be drained from the furnace through a tap hole.

Since the electric arc furnace method recycles used steel scarps, basically no new steel is produced during the process. Coated steel which is created by coating cold rolled products with zinc are used in high end appliances, office equipment and automobile exteriors. Electrical steel plates are created by adding electrical properties are used in transformers and motors. Steel plates which are thick and rectangular in shape are used in large structures such as buildings, vessels and oil pipelines.

Wired goods are created when billets are passed through a roll with a round hole and is used for automobile tire cords, wires for bridges, piano strings, underwater cables and more.

When nickel and chrome are added to steel it produces stainless steel which are used in kitchen appliances, medical equipment, exterior walls and roofs of buildings. Pictured here: Pohang Works, the root and heart of the Korean steel industry.

POSCO was the first in the world to use a more economical and eco-friendly method of steelmaking compared to a blast furnace. The FINEX method uses iron ore and coal in its original form, skipping the coking and sintering processes. Pohang Works is driving innovations in steel technology and leading in production of high quality products.

In addition, there is an Environmental Center that monitors emissions of pollutants in real time. Search Layer Close. Minimum 2 characters required. Home Featured Steel Matters. How is Steel Made?

Pictured here: Gwangyang Works is a world leading works with optimal layout to specialize in the production of automotive steel The 3 Step Steelmaking Processes For easier understanding, steel is made through 3 different stages which are ironmaking, steelmaking and rolling continuous casting processes. Pictured here: Dock where iron ore and coal are gathered For proper heat transfusion in the blast furnace, iron and coal must be solidified from their powder form.

Pictured here: m tall blast furnace where iron ore melts into molten iron 2 Steelmaking: a process of removing impurities from hot metal to create crude steel. Because this slag is less dense than molten metal, it floats on top of the metal and can be removed — it then goes on to be used in the cement and road building industries. At Scunthorpe, we use the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking BOS process — our modern convertors or vessels take a combined charge of scrap and liquid iron of up to tonnes and convert this into steel in just 25 minutes.

Scrap metal is charged into one of our steelmaking vessels or convertors and the liquid iron is then added to the vessel. Using a water-cooled lance, high purity oxygen is blown at twice the speed of sound onto the surface of the liquid iron at very high pressure. Lime is added to the process, which forms a slag and removes the unwanted elements from the liquid steel.

When the oxygen blowing process is complete, the steel is poured — or tapped — into ladles where the desired steel chemistry is achieved through careful addition of alloying elements and close control of the deoxidation process, ensuring a very high level of steel cleanness. Further refinements needed by the customer can be achieved through the secondary steelmaking processes, such as our ladle arc furnace and vacuum degasser facilities, which control the steel temperatures and chemistries extremely tightly, making sure our huge range of steel grades meet the most demanding customer requirements.

Continuous casting is one of the best routes for achieving the highest levels of internal and surface quality. Using an overhead crane, a ladle of liquid steel is transferred from the BOS Plant to the casters, where it is poured — or teemed — into the casting machine and shaped by water-cooled copper moulds of varying sizes depending on the final product to be made range mm sq up to 1, x mm.

The steel is drawn vertically from the bottom of the mould through a curved arrangement of rolls and is cooled with water sprays as the steel passes through the casting machine.

The resulting solidified slabs and blooms are straightened as the steel exits the bottom of the caster and are cut to the required lengths for onward processing at our mills.