Refractory Review

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Blast Furnace (BF / MBF)

Biggest Blast Furnace BF-3 Goes on Stream at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) - Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), India

The blowing-in process of newly built third Blast Furnace (BF–3) went through successfully on 24th April'12 with first tapping of Hot Metal from it taking place on the same day. With the addition of the new 3800 cubic meter capacity Blast Furnace No. 3 at RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited) / VSP (Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant) there has been about 4 per cent increase in steel-making of India. This blast furnace was built as a part of the expansion project to take the capacity of the Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP or RINL) from the present 3 million tonnes to 6.3 million tonnes.The cost of blast furnace... Read More

Tundish

Functions and Importance of Tundish and its Refractory Lining in Continuous Casting

The tundish is intended to deliver the molten metal to the moulds evenly and at a designed throughput rate and temperature without causing contamination by inclusions. It distributes molten steel in continuous casting moulds and is typically operated at a constant bath depth to ensure a constant feed rate into the mould required to achieve a constant throughput. Working lining remains in contact with steel and erosion is initiated at the metal-air interface with fluctuation of metal level in tundish. Different metallic oxides present in the metal are the primary eroding agents of tundish refractory lining. Read More

Different types of Tundish Coating and Lining Refractories - A Comparative Assessment on the basis of some Case Studies

The primary functions of tundish coating are to protect the high alumina permanent lining and minimize the contamination of the molten steel required for clean steel production. Several factors that need to be considered before making a final choice of tundish lining for a steel plant have been discussed here with specific references to some Indian Steel Plants. There are many instances in India and abroad of steel plants switching over from one tundish lining system to other depending upon the perceived and actual benefits obtained. So, here an effort has also been given to put together some such experiences made by others and were presented in some recently held different seminars and conferences on Refractories. Read more
Continuous Casting Tundish Lining Refractories: Their Merits and Demerits
Continuous casting refractories directly control the molten steel in the last stage of liquid steel processing and these are therefore, required to have high stability and special properties. In any continuous casting shop, tundish serves the purpose of reservoir as well as fulfills certain metallurgical functions like floatation of inclusion, control of flow to the moulds, thermal and chemical homogenization etc. In this article we have briefly mentioned about the developments and practices of tundish lining refractories in their chronological order and also the main features, merits and demerits of these refractories to enable the individual steel maker decide what could be the best for his plant. Read more

Importance of Tundish Design and Flow Modifier Refractories in Steel Making

One of the major functions of tundish is to enhance inclusion floatability and thereby, produce clean steel. For the removal of inclusion through floatation, wall adhesion and agglomeration the flow patterns inside the tundish play an important role, which in turn is a function of tundish design. To streamline the flow and compress turbulence inside tundish various Flow Control Devices (FCD) are being used in place of traditional FCDs or tundish furniture like Dams, Weirs, Charge Pads, and Side Wall Pads etc.Read More

Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)

Ladle | LRF | VOD | VAD

Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)

Iron making | Steel making

COREX® : An Innovative Ironmaking Metallurgical Process

COREX® is an innovative ironmaking metallurgical process in which hot metal is produced by direct use of non-coking coal. The COREX® process was developed by Korf Stahl and Voest Alpine and commercial Corex plants are now in operation at Saldanha Steel in South Africa (with concurrent DRI production), Jindal Vijaynagar Steel (now JSW Steel Limited) in India (with concurrent power generation) and Posco in South Korea (with use of the export gas in the steel plant). The COREX® process in a nutshell with its various advantages and disadvantages over other steel making processes . . . Read More

The FINEX® Process: The Latest Smelting Reduction (SR) Ironmaking Technology

What is Finex and its process concept ? The FINEX® is the latest addition to the smelting reduction (SR) ironmaking technology based on the direct use of the coal and fine ore. FINEX® Process is a fluidized bed based process suing ore fines instead using lump ores and pellets. Voest Alpine (VAI), Austria was awarded by POSCO with the contract for a COREX® C-2000 plant in December 1992. Also what are the various advantages of Finex process . . .
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HYL III and SL/RN - The two widely accepted Direct Reduction (DR) Processes of ironmaking

Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) is obtained by reducing lumps as well as fines of iron ore in solid state at a relatively low temperature of around 1000OC. A large number of DR processes are available today. SL/RN and HYL are two such DR processes. While HYL is a batch-type gas based process and uses a countercurrent shaft-furnace, the SL/RN process utilizes rotary kiln to reduce lump ore, pellets and sand iron with coal. Here we will discuss about some key features, including advantages and disadvantages of these two DR processes. Read More