In the electric arc furnace (EAF) refining operation, molten steel is exposed to chemical-physical processes that modify the temperature and composition of the liquid bath to obtain the desired steel grades. These processes are controlled by gradients of flow velocity, temperature and composition that determine the rates of the refining reactions. By increasing flow mixing, it is possible to enhance the refining reactions and, consequently, to reduce the refining time and energy consumption. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver developed to compute the refining stage in industrial-scale EAFs is applied to an EAF provided by EVRAZ. The CFD results are first compared with industry data obtained by EVRAZ for validation purposes, showing that the CFD prediction of carbon reduction during refining differs 1.7% from industry data. The validated model is then used to assess the impact of oxygen injection on decarburization efficiency.

Low-carbon Nb/V microalloyed steels are used extensively for pipeline construction due to a good combination of mechanical properties and weldability. Austenite/ferrite transformation and grain size evolution during cooling after hot rolling is pivotal to obtaining desired properties. In this study, phase transformation and grain size evolution in two as-cast Nb/V microalloyed low-carbon steel billets were investigated with and without Ti additions, utilizing a quenching dilatometer. Significant ferrite grain morphology changes were observed in Ti-added steel at 10 and 1°C/second cooling rates. Mechanisms of observed changes were discussed and compared with thermodynamic/kinetic predictions.

On the road to sustainable steelmaking, replacing the blast furnace route with the electric arc furnace (EAF) is considered one of the most viable solutions to achieving carbon-neutral steel production. The proposed charge mix in this kind of EAF will ideally be hydrogen-based direct reduced iron combined with scrap. The furnace capacity is normally in the range of 200–500 tons. Due to the high temperature gradient within the giant EAF bath and lack of CO bubbling in the melt, bottom stirring is highly appreciated from a metallurgical process perspective. The stirring efficiency generated by electromagnetic stirring (EMS) versus bottom gas stirring (BGS) has been investigated for a 450-ton-capacity EAF with the help of numerical simulations and some industrial performance test results. Melt flow pattern, velocity distribution, stirring energy and bath temperature homogenization have been compared directly for these two stirring technologies. Preliminary results show that the stirring power induced by EMS is several times higher than by BGS. The pros and cons of EMS versus BGS in terms of equipment installation, lifespan, operation safety and reliability issues will be discussed in this article.

In steelmaking, indirect cleanliness measuring methods are preferred over direct measurements due to their simplicity. This article aims to quantify cleanliness in coils, ladles and in the inclusion banding in slabs in order to predict coil cleanliness results by steel plant direct measurements and to correlate the effects of steelmaking process parameters in the final product quality. This work managed to use ASTM E2283 as a cleanliness metric to validate cost-saving process changes without quality hindrances, later confirmed by E45 results.