Material balance of melts in the Consteel 120-t arc furnace at OAO Ashinskii Metallurgicheskii Zavod

The material balance in six series of melts is investigated to determine the losses of metal and the yield of liquid steel from a 120-t Consteel arc furnace installed at OAO Ashinskii Metallurgicheskii Zavod in September 2010. In each melt, the mass of scrap and slag-forming material introduced is recorded, and the mass of the slabs produced, together with offcuts, scrap, slag, conveyer spillage, and dust in the gas-purification bunkers. Most of the metal-bearing components of the batch are lost with the furnace slag, whose quantity (116–210 kg/t of steel) depends on the quality of the scrap. The quantity of dust is 7.1–20.4 kg/t. The chemical composition of the slag and dust is determined. The results of the balance melts indicate that the yield of liquid steel from the 120-t Consteel arc furnace is the same as for furnaces with melt-intensification systems and with bucket delivery of the scrap throughout the working space. Recommendations are made to reduce the quantity of slag and increase the yield of liquid steel.