7 advantages of electric arc furnace

Electric arc furnaces use electric energy as their main energy source. Electric energy is arc drawn through the discharge of graphite electrodes and the charge to produce high temperatures above 2000 ~ 6000 ℃, and the scrap steel raw materials are melted by means of arc radiation, temperature convection and heat conduction. During most of the time when the charge is melted, the high-temperature heat source is surrounded by the charge, and the heat loss caused by the high-temperature exhaust gas is relatively small, so the thermal efficiency is higher than that of other steelmaking equipment such as converters. In addition, the electric heating is easy to accurately control the furnace temperature, and the heating operation can be performed under any conditions such as oxidizing atmosphere or reducing atmosphere, normal pressure or vacuum according to process requirements.

The electric arc furnace steelmaking process is short, the equipment is simple, the operation is convenient, the pollution is relatively easy to control, the construction investment is small, the area is small, and it does not need to rely on the complex ironmaking system like the converter steelmaking.

Electric arc furnace steelmaking is highly adaptable to the charge. It uses scrap steel as the main raw material, but it can also use molten iron (blast furnace or hot metal furnace), sponge iron (DRI) or hot briquetting (HBI), pig iron And liquid iron-containing raw materials.

Because the atmosphere in the electric arc furnace steelmaking furnace is controllable, the operation of slag adjustment or replacement is relatively easy, and the melting, decarburization, dephosphorization, degassing, removal of inclusions, temperature control and composition can be completed in the same operating system Complex process operations at various stages such as adjustment (alloying). Electric arc furnace steelmaking can be produced intermittently, and production varieties can be flexibly exchanged within a certain range. In addition, modern electric arc furnaces can also use a large number of auxiliary energy sources, such as injecting heavy (light) oil, pulverized coal, and natural gas. Therefore, the electric arc furnace steelmaking process has strong adaptability, flexible operation and wide application.

Electric arc furnace can not only smelt high-quality steel with low phosphorus, sulfur, and oxygen content, but also can alloy with a variety of elements (including lead, boron, vanadium, titanium and rare earth elements that are easily oxidized) to produce various high-quality steels. Steel and alloy steel, such as ball bearing steel, stainless acid-resistant steel, tool steel, electrical steel, heat-resistant steel, magnetic materials, and special alloys.