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ABSTRACT
Although difficult without quoting dates this article describes the evolution of the process to my best ability.The evolution of the global steel industry since the major inventions of Bessemer, Siemens and Martin, Thomas and Héroult, is divided into three main periods. Up to 1950, the global steel industry experienced continuous technological improvements, without any particular challenges. From 1950 to 1980, the use of pure oxygen introduced new processes, in particular, the pure oxygen concentrator. During this period, the electric furnace became highly efficient. In recent decades, these development processes have been perfected. On the other hand, the spectacular development of ladle steelmaking means that meeting the combined requirements of productivity and steel quality is now possible.
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Guy DENIER: Engineer ENSIC (Nancy) - Steelworks specialist at IRSID, then at Paul WURTH - This edition is an update of Bernard TRENTINI's article entitled: Aciéries – Process evolution, published in 1991.
INTRODUCTION
If we try to summarize in a few lines the evolution of the world steel industry since the momentous inventions of Bessemer, Martin and Siemens, Thomas and Héroult in the second half of the 19th century, we can distinguish three main periods.
Until 1950: continuous improvement of these inventions in the technological and metallurgical fields, without them being called into question.
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From 1950 to 1980 :
many new technologies based on the use of pure oxygen, eventually giving way to the pure oxygen converter and its variants;
at the same time: significant development of the electric furnace, benefiting from technological improvements and the availability of scrap due to the closure of the Martin furnace; then the disappearance of Thomas and Bessemer converters, as well as Martin furnaces, at least in modern industrialized countries; and finally the emergence and expansion of a highly diversified ladle metallurgy.
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From 1980 :
stability in manufacturing processes, which continue to be perfected;
widespread development of ladle metallurgy to meet productivity requirements and ever-increasing demands on steel quality.
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Bibliography
Note: given the breadth of the field covered, a selection had to be made from the extremely abundant bibliography on these topics.
- (1) - - World Steel Association. – Steel Statistical Yearbooks, http://www.worldsteel.org .
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