STEELMAKING
The making, shaping, and treatment of steel is a very complex procedure.
The three basic raw materials in steelmaking are:
- iron ore
- limestone
- coal
The coal is first converted to coke, by heating (baking) it in
a coke oven. This coke is then used in the blast furnace procedure.
The purpose of the blast furnace is to reduce the iron ore to the
free metal (pig iron), and to remove the gangue (impurities) in
the form of slag. The iron is then modified further by the removal
of certain impurities to form steel. The addition of other elements
in the process produces alloy steel.
Steel is made by various processes. The modern methods are:
- Bessemer process
- Basic Oxygen Furnace
- Open Hearth Furnace
- Electric Arc Furnace
This steel is then taken to the rolling mills where it is rolled
into numerous finished products, such as slabs, rails, or roundbars.
This section of the website will examine the entire steelmaking
process from raw materials to finished products.
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