THE ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE

 GROUP MEMBERS

1. KINGSLEY POSIYANO
2. KHALID KAMPANJE
3. TAMIM CHIPALA
4. ANYOSHISHE CHIONA
 CONTENT
1. Introduction
2. Working principle
3. Construction or design of electric arc furnace
4. Operation
5. Advantages and disadvantages
6. References
 1. INTRODUCTION
 An Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is a furnace that
heats charged material by means of an electric
arc.
2 types
1. Direct Electric Arc Furnace
2. Indirect Electric Arc Furnace
 2. WORKING PRINCIPLE
 1. Direct Electric Arc Furnace
The arc is struck between the
electrode and the charge. Three
electrodes made of carbon or
graphite are projected from the top
of the furnace and three phase
supply is given.
The current passes through them via
the charge. Since the arc is in direct
contact with the charge so it is
possible to produce highest
temperatures by direct electric arc
furnace. As the arc passes through
the charge, it will produce
automatic stirring action.
 2. Indirect Electric Arc Furnace
In this furnace, the arc is formed
between the two electrodes
and heat produced is transmitted to
the charge by radiation. The
temperature is lower than direct arc
furnace. So indirect arc furnaces are
suitable for melting metals having
lower melting points e.g.
nonferrous metals such as brass,
copper, zinc etc.
3. CONSTRUCTION OR DESIGN OF
ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
 3. CONSTRUCTION OR DESIGN
OF ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
 The furnace consists of a spherical hearth (bottom),
cylindrical shell, a swinging water-cooled dome-shaped
roof and Graphite electrodes.
i. Hearth
• This contains metal and slag. The hearth lining consists
of backing lining and working lining. The backing lining
is few layers of high fired magnesite bricks on which
working lining is rammed with either dolomite or
magnesite mass
 CONSTRUCTION CONT..

ii. Side walls or Cylindrical shell

 The side walls refractory materials should be able to
withstand thermal shock and corrosive action of slag.
 This wall is lined with magnesite, dolomite or chrome
magnesite bricks up to the slag line.
 CONSTRUCTION CONT..
iii. The Roof
• High alumina bricks and magnesite-chromite bricks are
used for roof lining
• The roof lining is water cooled which increases the life
of refractory lining at least 10-20 times more than
without water cooling
• The roof has three holes to allow insertion of the
electrodes
 CONSTRUCTION CONT..
iv. Electrodes
• A typical direct current operated EAF has three
electrodes.
• Graphite electrodes are preferred over carbon
electrodes because of better electrical conductivity.
• The electrodes are automatically raised and lowered by
a positioning system
 OPERATION
The electric arc furnace operates as a batch melting process
producing batches of molten steel known "heats". The electric arc
furnace operating cycle is called the tap-to-tap cycle and is made up
of the following operations:

 Furnace charging
 Melting
 Refining
 De-slagging
 Tapping
 Furnace turn-around
 4. OPERATION
CHARGING
 The first step in any tap-to-tap cycle is "charging" into the
scrap. The roof and electrodes are raised and are swung to
the side of the furnace to allow the scrap charging crane to
move a full bucket of scrap into place over the furnace. The
bucket bottom is usually a clam shell design - i.e. the bucket
opens up by retracting two segments on the bottom of the
bucket. The scrap falls into the furnace and the scrap crane
removes the scrap bucket. The roof and electrodes swing
back into place over the furnace. The roof is lowered and
then the electrodes are lowered to strike an arc on the scrap.
This commences the melting portion of the cycle
 CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL
PROCESSES IN AN EAF
 Melting
 The melting period is the heart of EAF operations.
The Melting process starts at a low voltage (short arc) between
the electrodes and the scrap. The arc during this period is
unstable. In order to improve the arc stability small pieces of
the scrap are placed in the upper layer of the charge. The
electrodes descend melting the charge and penetrating into the
scrap forming bores.
 OPERATIONS
 Refining
 Refining operations in the electric arc furnace have
traditionally involved the removal of phosphorus, sulfur,
aluminum, silicon, manganese and carbon from the steel.
 Most of the compounds which are to be removed during
refining have a higher affinity for oxygen that the carbon.
Thus the oxygen will preferentially react with these
elements to form oxides which float out of the steel and
into the slag.
 OPERATIONS
 De-slagging
 De-slagging operations are carried out to remove
impurities from the furnace. During melting and refining
operations, some of the undesirable materials within the
bath are oxidized and enter the slag phase.
 The furnace is tilted backwards and slag is poured out of
the furnace through the slag door. Removal of the slag
eliminates the possibility of phosphorus reversion
 OPERATIONS
 Tapping
 Once the desired steel composition and temperature are
achieved in the furnace, the tap-hole is opened, the furnace is
tilted, and the steel pours into a ladle for transfer to the next
batch operation (usually a ladle furnace or ladle station).
During the tapping process bulk alloy additions are made based
on the bath analysis and the desired steel grade. De-oxidizers
may be added to the steel to lower the oxygen content prior
to further processing. This is commonly referred to as "blocking
the heat“ or "killing the steel". Common de-oxidizers are
aluminum or silicon in the form of ferrosilicon or
silicomanganese
 OPERATIONS

 Furnace Turn-Around
 Furnace turn-around is the period following completion
of tapping until the furnace is recharged for the next heat.
During this period, the electrodes and roof are raised and
the furnace lining is inspected for refractory damage. If
necessary, repairs are made to the hearth, slag-line, tap-
hole and spout. In the case of a bottom-tapping furnace,
the top-hole is filled with sand.
 CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL
PROCESSES IN AN EAF
 Oxidizing Stage
At this stage excessive carbon, phosphorous, silicon and
manganese oxidize.
Basic oxidizing slag composed of lime (CaO) and ion ore
(FeO) is used during the oxidizing period.
Gaseous oxygen may be blown into the melt
for additional oxidizing.
 CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL
PROCESSES IN AN EAF
 REDUCING STAGE
New slag composed mainly of lime (CaO), 𝐶𝑎𝐹2 (as slag
fluidizer) is added at this stage for formation of basic
reducing conditions.
The function of this slag is refining of the steel from
sulfur and absorption of oxides, formed as a result of
deoxidation (”killing”).
The excessive oxygen dissolved in the melt during
oxidizing period is removed by metallic deoxidizers Mn,
Si, Al
CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL
PROCESSES IN AN EAF
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES
 One benefit is flexibility: EAFs
 Although the modern electric arc
can be rapidly started and
stopped,
allowing the steel mill to vary
production according to
demand.
 Although steelmaking arc
furnaces generally use scraps
steel as their primary
feedstock, if hot metal from a
blast furnace or direct-reduced
iron is available
economically, these can also be
used as furnace feed
DISADVANTAGES
furnace is a highly efficient recycler
of steel scrap, operation of an arc
furnace shop can have adverse
environmental effects. Much of the
capital cost of a new installation will
be devoted to systems intended to
reduce these effects, which include:
i. Enclosures to reduce high sound
levels
ii. Dust collector for furnace off-gas
iii. Slag production
iv. Cooling water demand
 REFERENCES

1. Substech substances and technologies- The Electric arc

furnace (1987), Pri-metals Ltd.
2. The Electric arc Furnace, Gulfam Hussain (2007)
3. Electric arc furnace By Mukeshi J Choudhari (2001)
4. State-of-the-art solution for the fully optimized EAF
production (1994), Pri-metals technologies EAF automation.