Lecture

Metals Processing: Primary Metallurgy

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

MSE-422: Advanced metallurgy

This course covers the metallurgy, processing and properties of modern high-performance metals and alloys (e.g. advanced steels, Ni-base, Ti-base, High Entropy Alloys etc.). In addition, the principles of computational alloy design as well as approaches fo ...

Description

This lecture covers the process of converting raw iron into steel using the oxygen converter process, where pure oxygen is blown over hot metal to ignite carbon, raise the temperature, and remove impurities. The steel is further refined in a ladle furnace by adding alloying materials. It also discusses electric arc furnace steelmaking, the use of steel scrap, direct reduction processes, and the environmental aspects of steelmaking, including energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Instructor

Christian Leinenbach

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Chemical engineering

Materials science: Alloys

Related concepts (32)

Steelmaking

Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and excess carbon (the most important impurity) are removed from the sourced iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium, carbon and vanadium are added to produce different grades of steel. Steelmaking has existed for millennia, but it was not commercialized on a massive scale until the mid-19th century. An ancient process of steelmaking was the crucible process.

Electric arc furnace

An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to about 400-tonne units used for secondary steelmaking. Arc furnaces used in research laboratories and by dentists may have a capacity of only a few dozen grams. Industrial electric arc furnace temperatures can reach , while laboratory units can exceed .

Basic oxygen steelmaking

Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter process, is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it into low-carbon steel. The process is known as basic because fluxes of burnt lime or dolomite, which are chemical bases, are added to promote the removal of impurities and protect the lining of the converter.

Carbon steel

Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zirconium, or any other element to be added to obtain a desired alloying effect; the specified minimum for copper does not exceed 0.40%; or the specified maximum for any of the following elements does not exceed the percentages noted: manganese 1.

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the science and the technology of metals; that is, the way in which science is applied to the production of metals, and the engineering of metal components used in products for both consumers and manufacturers. Metallurgy is distinct from the craft of metalworking.

Related lectures (64)

Advanced Steels

Covers the fundamentals of steel metallurgy, high-performance steel classes, steelmaking process, Fe-C diagram, phases in steel, alloying elements, and heat treatment of steels.

Metals Processing: Primary Metallurgy

Delves into primary metallurgy, discussing metal oxide reduction, stability, and steelmaking processes.

Direct Reduction Processes: Iron Production from Ore

Explores the direct reduction processes for iron production from ore at lower temperatures, discussing benefits and challenges.

Metals Processing: Blast Furnace and Steelmaking

Explores metals processing through blast furnace and steelmaking, covering reduction of metal oxides, blast furnace operation, and oxygen converter process.

Fundamentals of Steel Metallurgy