Steelmaking

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Steelmaking is the second step in producing steel from iron ore. In this stage, impurities such as sulfur, phosphorus, and excess carbon are removed from the raw iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium and vanadium are added to produce the exact steel required.

The materials used in modern steelmaking are:

• The iron produced in a blast furnace, either as molten iron or as pig iron.
• Scrap steel.
• Alloying elements.

The original methods of producing steel were labour-intensive and highly skilled arts involving open crucibles, see finery forge, puddling, blister steel, crucible steel.

An important aspect of the industrial revolution was the development of large-scale methods of producing forgeable metal (bar iron or steel). The puddling furnace was initially a means of producing wrought iron, but was later applied to steel production. The Bessemer converter was the first successful mass steelmaking process, followed by the open hearth furnace.

Modern steelmaking techniques include:

• Basic oxygen furnace.
• Electric arc furnace.

See also

• Decarburization
• Steel
• Steel mill
• Blast furnace