Possibilities for increasing the purity of steel in production using secondary-metallurgy equipment

Abstract

The possibilities for increasing the purity of steel during the production of the liquid phase using secondary metallurgy mainly relate to affecting the number of emerging occlusions, their size, morphology and chemical composition. The metallographic purity of steel during production in an electric-arc furnace (EAF), in a ladle furnace (LF) and during processing with VD caisson technology was assessed. The steel samples were processed by means of an electron microscope and were simultaneously tested using the single-spark-evaluation (SSE) method. The aim of this investigation was to find the possibility for an operative steel-quality control and to obtain the desired mechanical properties already while processing the liquid phase.