Arc Furnace Feedstock

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to give an up-to-date description of the raw materials needed for electric arc steelmaking. Most important is a supply of iron, which may be obtained from two major sources, namely (i) steel and cast iron scrap and (ii) iron ore. Iron derived from ore may be produced either by direct reduction, in which case it is usually referred to as DR iron, or by blast furnace smelting followed by solidification in the form of granulated, plate or pig iron. DR iron is generally marketed as pellets or briquettes. A third, minor source of iron is provided by the deoxidising and alloying elements that are used to control the casting process or to improve the metallurgical and physical properties of the resultant steel. Nevertheless, although the iron arising from ferro-alloys and deoxidisers is a fundamental feature of steelmaking, it represents only 1–2% by weight of the total iron input for most steels. An exception to this rule is the manufacture of highly alloyed steels such as Hadfield’s manganese steel, for which significant additions of ferro-manganese are required to produce the requisite composition, i.e. 12–14% Mn, but this is not normally the business of a mini-steelworks.