Non-technical chats on iron and steel, and their application to modern industrySpring, La Verne W. (La Verne Ward)
History
Non-technical chats on iron and steel, and their application to modern industry
Spring, La Verne W. (La Verne Ward)
Iron; Steel
Acid Open-Hearth Takes out Si. Mn. C. Very low P. and S.
Process. (under 0.1% of each).
Basic Open-Hearth Takes out Si. Mn. C. P. Wider Variety.
Process. and some S.
Electric Furnace Takes out Si. Mn. C. P. Wider Variety.
Process. and S.
In further explanation of the competition in quality of Bessemer and of
open-hearth steels it should be understood that in both the acid
Bessemer and the acid open-hearth furnaces we get out in quality just
what we put in. While for some purposes phosphorus and sulphur of 0.1
per cent is allowable, for other purposes they should not be over 0.025
or 0.03 per cent. To produce steel of the latter high quality, material
containing slightly less than this of sulphur and phosphorus must be
charged, and these are usually much higher in price than are pig iron
and scrap containing greater percentages of these metalloids.
[Illustration:
CHARGING FLOOR OF THE BATTERY OF GAS PRODUCERS SHOWING ROCKING ARMS
FOR GRADUAL FEEDING OF THE COAL
]
Where materials of 2.5 to 3 per cent of phosphorus are obtainable, as,
generally speaking, they are not in this country, the basic Bessemer
should make as low phosphorus steel as does the basic open-hearth.
The great advantages of the basic open-hearth process, then, are that
for it can be utilized a much wider variety of raw materials than is
possible with the acid open-hearth or either of the Bessemer processes,
and, particularly that here, at least, the proper materials are readily
available.
The fuels used vary, of course, according to what is most available,
considering quantity, quality, and price. Natural gas has been a
favorite fuel, as also has oil. But in many localities natural gas never
was available and in others which were thus blessed, the supply has been
exhausted. By-product coke oven gas and tar are being experimented with
with some success.
Largely because of the great size of the open-hearth furnace solid fuel,
such as coal which can be used for puddling furnaces, is not adaptable.
As far back as 1839 attempts were made to gasify coal by burning it to
ash and utilizing the gaseous products for industrial purposes. These
attempts succeeded and the process has been brought to quite a high
state of development. There are to-day a large number of efficient types
of “gas producers” which furnish gas for general industrial use and it
is with this “producer gas” that a great deal of the steel nowadays is
made.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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