Secondary metallurgy

Reproducible and rapid achievement of lowest carbon contents for the production of DDQ & EDDQ thin sheet.

Effective hydrogen removal from liquid steel.

Here, the slag layer on top of the liquid steel remains closed throughout. It insulates against heat loss to the ambient air.

RH recirculation ensures a high lift gas rate plus a greater steel surface directly exposed to the vacuum. So you get fast metallurgical reactions and very short treatment times This is why RH suits fast-running BOF shops with short CCM cycle times and extended CCM sequence lengths.

Vacuum treatment outside the ladle does not require any extra freeboard, neither with higher ladles nor with lower steel weights. That generates maximum production with a given ladle design.

Special to the process is that the inert lift gas is injected into the RH snorkel – outside the ladle. As a result, the ladle does not necessarily need bottom purging plugs. What’s more, the steel back flow ensures excellent homogenization of the liquid steel.

SMS Mevac’s atmospheric ladle metallurgical processes serve to adjust steel condition (temperature and chemical analysis) prior to vacuum treatment or casting procedure.

SMS Mevac’s RH and RH-TOP units are installed in steelmaking plants with heat sizes of up to 400 t. Tank degassers (VD and VD-OB) support EAF and BOF plants, permitting heat sizes of up to 400 t. VOD tank degassers are needed in stainless steel production in order to reach extra low carbon contents in an economical way.