This article focuses on the construction, operation of electric arc furnaces (EAF), and their auxiliary equipment in the steel foundry industry. It provides information on the power supply of EAF and discusses the components of the EAF, including the roof, furnace shell, spout and tap hole, water-cooling system, preheat and furnace scrap burners, and ladles. The article describes the acid and basic steelmaking practices. It discusses the raw materials used, oxidation process, methods of heat reduction, and deoxidation process in the practices. The article provides a discussion on the arc melting of iron and EAF steelmaking.

Foundry practices critical to the production of cast irons include melting, alloying, molten metal treatment, pouring, and the design of feeding systems (gating and risering) to allow proper filling of the casting mold. This article reviews these production stages of iron foundry casting, with particular emphasis on the melting practices, molten metal treatment, and feeding of molten metal into sand molds. It discusses the castability factors, such as fluidity, shrinkage, and resistance, of gray iron. Typical cupola charge compositions and the final analyses for class 30 and class 40 gray iron castings are presented in a table. The article describes the induction melting and arc furnace melting used in gray iron foundries. It also reviews the inoculation methods such as stream inoculation and mold inoculation, of gray iron.

Crucible furnaces, as compared to electric arc furnaces, are increasingly deployed in various melting practices due to their environmental and workplace friendliness and their process benefits. This article focuses on the application of induction crucible furnaces for melting and pouring operations in small-and medium-sized steel foundries, including aluminum, copper, and zinc industries. It also provides information on the process engineering benefits of melting and pouring operations.

Plasma melting is a material-processing technique in which the heat of thermal plasma is used to melt a material. This article discusses two typical design principles of plasma torches in the transferred mode: the tungsten tip design and the hollow copper electrode design. It describes the sources of atmospheric contamination in plasma melting furnaces and their control measures. The equipment used in plasma melting furnaces are also discussed. The article provides a detailed discussion on various plasma melting processes, such as plasma consolidation, plasma arc remelting, plasma cold hearth melting, and plasma casting.

Skull melting refers to the use of furnaces with water-cooled crucibles that freeze a solid “skull” of material on the crucible wall. This article describes the basic components, operating pressure, advantages, and applications of vacuum arc and induction skull melting furnaces.

The melting process often includes refining and treating the metal. The choice of which type of melting to use depends on a number of factors: type of alloy being melted, the local cost of electric power, and local environmental regulations. This article discusses the principles, furnace types, charging practices of metal melting methods, namely induction melting, cupola melting, arc melting, crucible melting, reaction melting, and vacuum melting, and the refractories and charging practice of reverberatory furnaces. Molten metal treatment of steels and aluminum also is discussed in the article.

Sand mold and permanent mold casting are the major methods for shape casting of steels, with production closely split among green sand, chemically bonded sand, and permanent mold processes. This article describes key aspects of the steel casting process, including steel solidification characteristics, melting practices, melt treatment, and feeding of the molten steel into the mold used in steel foundries. It discusses the features of melting furnaces used in direct arc melting and induction melting. It reviews factors such as wall thickness and designing for avoidance of hot spots. The article explains the sand casting and permanent mold casting of steel. The process design and casting of thin sections are also discussed.

Electron beam melting includes melting, refining, and conversion processes for metals and alloys. This article describes the electron beam melting process, as well as the principles, equipment, and process considerations of drip melting and cold hearth melting process.

Thermal spray is an important surface-modification process implemented by the steel industry. This article reviews thermal spray materials and equipment used and also provides examples of where typical coated components result in improved performance. It contains a table that lists thermal spray applications in the iron-steel manufacturing industry.

This article discusses the most common methods of melting steels, namely, electric arc and induction melting. It describes the classification of refractories by an index of the “basicity” of the slag formed on the steel surface. The article provides a discussion on the converter metallurgy, which includes melt refinement in argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) vessels and vacuum oxygen decarburization (VODC) in a converter vessel. It also discusses ladle metallurgy, which includes vacuum induction degassing, vacuum oxygen decarburization, and vacuum ladle degassing.

Various types of furnaces have been used for cast iron melting. In terms of tonnage, the primary melting methods used by iron casting facilities are cupola and induction furnaces. This article describes the operation and control principles of cupola furnace. It discusses the advantages of specialized cupolas such as cokeless cupola and plasma-fired cupola. Melting in iron foundries is a major application of induction furnaces. The article describes the operations of two induction furnaces: the channel induction furnace and the induction crucible furnace. It explains the teapot principle of pressure-actuated pouring furnaces and provides information on the effect of pouring magnesium-treated melts.

The vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process is widely used to improve the cleanliness and refine the structure of standard air melted or vacuum induction melted (VIM) ingots. It is also used in the triplex production of superalloys. This article illustrates the VAR process and the capabilities and variables of the process. It also presents a discussion on the melt solidification, resulting structure, and ingot defects. The article concludes with a discussion on the VAR process of superalloy and titanium and titanium alloy.

This article reviews the production stages of iron foundry casting, with particular emphasis on the melting practices, molten metal treatment, and feeding of molten metal into sand molds. It discusses the molten metal treatments for high-silicon gray, high-nickel ductile, and malleable irons. Foundry practices are also described for compacted graphite, high-silicon ductile, and high-alloy white irons.

Cast iron, which usually refers to an in situ composite of stable eutectic graphite in a steel matrix, includes the major classifications of gray iron, ductile iron, compacted graphite iron, malleable iron, and white iron. This article discusses melting, pouring, desulfurization, inoculation, alloying, and melt treatment of these major ferrous alloys as well as carbon and alloy steels. It explains the principles of solidification by describing the iron-carbon phase diagram, and provides a pictorial presentation of the basic microstructures and processing steps for cast irons.

This article discusses the composition, processing, and properties of austenitic manganese steel. Austenitic manganese steel is used in equipment for handling and processing earthen materials, such as rock crushers, grinding mills, dredge buckets, power shovel buckets and teeth, and pumps for handling gravel and rocks. The mechanical properties of austenitic manganese steel vary with both carbon and manganese content. Austenitic manganese steels are most commonly produced in electric arc furnaces using a basic melting practice. Heat treatment strengthens austenitic manganese steel so that it can be used safely and reliably in a wide variety of engineering applications. The approximate ranges of tensile properties produced in constructional alloy steels by heat treatment are developed in austenitic manganese steels by deformation-induced work hardening. Compared to most other abrasion-resistant ferrous alloys, manganese steels are superior in toughness and moderate in cost. Manganese steel is not corrosion resistant; it rusts readily. Many of the common applications of austenitic manganese steel involve welding, either for fabrication or for repair.