Modern Steelmaking The steel in automobile bodies still begins as iron ore. But the steps in its transformation have changed dramatically in the past 20 years Nobuo Ohashi Tithe popular conception steelmak- ing is the quintessential example of ‘an outmoded manufacturing technolo- gy, a 19th-century dinosaur that is about to lumber obliviously over the threshold of the 21st century. But in fact, steelmaking has been transformed. in the past 20 years by a flood of inno- vations. With little fanfare, it has be- come as impressive as that acme of modern manufacturing practice, inte- grated-circuit processing, This article describes the manufac- ture of steel sheets for automobile bod- ies at Kawasaki Steel Corporation and other Japanese steel companies. Be- cause auto-body steel sheets are one of the industry's major products, much attention has been devoted to improv- ing their quality and lowering their cost. A description of their manufacture therefore offers many examples of re- cent innovations in steelmaking prac- tice. Itis also a striking example of cur- rent trends in manufacturing, where precise computer control of processes, exibility and a shift from batch to con- tinuous processing are transforming the way many things are made. [Nobuo Ohashi sprint ond chief executive officer ofKassasak Stet Techno Resco Corporation i Chit, Japan, He his conde researc on tel ond see radu technology for Kawasaki Stel Corporation since 1932, le he sruated fm the Tokyo Alegre in talaga en lactate 1968 fom Kyoto Users a receiced many hos for his tor, 1989, she Mertrious Hor Aor rom the apanose Minister of Sate for Sern Technology for is snk special les a resoich He se deputy cure Ase orn technical 0 Stl stale apa sient of he apes stitute of Metals fron 190 1992. Adds Kies Sto! Tvlmo-Researt 340 American Scientist, Volume 80 Because the conversion of iron ore to finished steel requires many stages, the modernization of steelmaking has tak- en place not as one giant leap but rather as many refinements of steps in the manufacturing process. In the ini- tial stages of steelmaking, when the ‘metal is molten, the goal of innovation hhas been precise control over chemical composition. Target concentrations of contaminants such as sulfur and oxy- gen are extremely low—typically a few Parts per million. The composition of the melt must be controlled at this level to achieve products that meet the qual- ity standards now imposed by cus- tomers. A customer may reject as much 5 10 tons of steel coil because of one or two minor defects caused by minute amounts of dissolved oxygen. ‘Once the steel has solidified, the fo- ‘cus of technological innovation shifts to integrating processing steps and bring. ing them under computer control. The ideal steelmaking process would be both continuous and flexible, In tradi- tional steelmaking, chunks of metal— the ingots—were formed into products by amany-step process, Since the steps inevitably had different throughputs, the overall process was inherently in- efficient. Often the steel had to be stored, transported or even reheated between steps. One goal of modern practice is to produce products by as Uninterrupted a process as possible. But there is another consideration as well. In steelmaking, as in many other industries, itis no longer sufficient to produce a few products in large quan- tities with a long lead time. To remain competitive, a steelworks must be able to manufacture a variety of products in small lots on short notice. For this rea- son, the second goal of process innova- tion is to be able to change operating conditions on the fly without produc: ing large quantities of defective prod- luct. Achieving a continuous and flexi ble process has required the adoption of sophisticated instrumentation and control technologies. In addition to increasing productivi- ty, process improvements have allowed. steelmakers to offer products that would be difficult to produce by con- ventional methods. In the past, many automotive panels were made from low-carbon, or “mild” steels because they had the ductility, or drawability, needed for press forming. Recent im- provements in refining technology have made it possible to mass-produce ultra-low-carbon steels that have even, higher ductility but match the strength. of traditional higher-carbon steels. The perennial problem of auto-body rust has also received its share of attention, New galvanizing lines deposit 2inc-al- loy coatings that have greater corrosion resistance, and multi-layer coatings that allow better paint adhesion. ‘The Beginnings of Change ‘The conversion of iron to steel depends essentially on the removal of impurities from the iron by combustion. Iron ore is a compound of iron and oxygen and. ‘may contain a varity of other elements, ‘The oxygen and some of the other im- purities are removed by heating the ore ‘with coke in a blast furnace, The result ing pig iron contains too much carbon, and itis further treated in a refining fur- nace, where most of the carbon is burmed off to make good steel. In the past, refining was done in an openchearth furnace. Te furnace was charged with pig iron and scrap metal, together with fluxing and alloying ele- ments. Each batch, or “heat,” was brought to temperature and held there until it attained the desired chemical composition. The steel was then tapped | | 1 ' { | i {argon lime propane Figure 2. Oxygen converter refines molten pig iron early in the steelmaking process by remoy- {ng carbon from i at very high temperature. The ame function was traditionally carried out bby an open-hearth furnace, which melted large quantities of old stel scrap and pig iron at long intervals—a tempo not suited to continuons casting ofthe steel. Decarburization inant ‘oxygen converter, which can produce about 290 tons of steel in half an hou, proceeds efficient ly because pure oxygen gas used for combustion. The oxygen flow is divided between two {types of nozzles atop lance and several bottom nozzles, to prevent problems that arise when, theres too great a flux of oxygen through a bottom nozzle The boom nozzles are double- walled steel tubes. Typically, oxygen, argon and lime are injected through the inner tube, and propane gas is blown through the gap Between the inner tube andthe outer wall, The propane ‘acts asa coolant by absorbing the heat a the exit of the nozzle (where the propane decompos- 8), thereby preventing the nozzle and bottom refractories from melting. Argon gas increases the agitation ofthe melt, an lime removes excess phosphorus. Not shown isa sublance, a sen- sor-equipped probe that is intermittently immersed in the stel from the top to take tempera. ture and carbon-content measurements; these are used to modify the blowing schedule to achieve goals for final earbon content and temperature. into a ladle, and the ladle was moved toa casting pit, where it was teemed, or poured, into ingot molds. When the in- gots had cooled, the molds were stripped, and the ingots were trans- ferred to a furnace called a soaking pit, where they were reheated and held long enough to ensure a uniform inter- nal temperature’ The hot ingots were then driven into a primary, or break down, mill that squeezed them into the shapes of slabs, blooms or billets. ‘The 1960s and 1970s saw the adop: tion of two blockbuster innovations that transformed this process. Firs, the casting of refined steel in ingots was replaced by continuous casting. In- stead of being poured into ingot molds, the molten steel in the ladke is S12 American Scien, Values now teemed into a vessel called a tundish, from which it flows more steadily into a bottomless vertical mold. The emerging strand is pinched by rollers that withdraw it from the ‘mold at a pace matched to its rate of solidification. Continuous casting elim- inates the pouring, stripping, trans porting and reheating of ingots The potential of continuous casting, was not fully realized, however, until the open-hearth furnace was replaced by the basic oxygen converter. The ‘open hearth melts'a large quantity of steel at long intervals, anu this tempo is not well suited to efficient use of a continuous-casting machine. The basic ‘oxygen furnace now in use has.a much shorter eycle ane! provides a steadier supply of molten stecl. A large basic ‘oxygen furnace produces 250 tons of steel in half an hour, whereas it might take four to five hours for an open- hearth furnace to cook the same batch. The difference is due to the use of pure oxygen for combustion. An open- hearth furnace melts cold pig irom and scrap and refines the melt by burning, fuel and air above it. In a basic oxygen furnace, pure oxygen is blown into the molten pig iron at high pressure through a nozzle, or lance. Just as a bel- lows supplies oxygen to a wood fire, the lance provides a direct source of the oxygen necessary to maintain rapid combustion. No additional fuel is need- ‘ed because sufficient heat is produced by the more rapid combustion of the lange amount of carbon and some im purities in the hot metal, Indeed, it is necessary to cool the charge by adding small amounts of scrap steel ‘The abandonment of the older refin- ing technologies had consequences specific to the manufacture of automo- tive steels. In the past, steel sheets for automobile bodies were made from “rimmed” or “killed” ingots. Ingots de- velop different internal structures de- pending on the amount of gases, princi pally oxygen, dissolved in the steel When molten steel contains substantial dissolved oxygen, the steel itis said to be live. As live steel cools, oxygen is ex- pplled from it and reacts with carbon to form carbon-monoxide bubbles that cause the steel to fizz or boil. Live steel can be deoxidized, or killed, before it is cast, and killed stel cools quietly. ‘When live ste! is teemed into an in- ‘got mold, the boiling action, which is caused by carbon-monoxide bubbles, ‘washes out impurities from the molten steel that is next to the solidifying ingot shell. Thus live steel tends to produce a rimmed ingot with an exceptionally clean skin, or rim layer, although the in- got has a nonuniform interior. A killed steel produces a more homogeneous “killed” ingot, but one with a less clean skin, Steel sheets for automobile bodies ‘were rolled from both types of ingots, bbut sheets that require good surface quality—for example, those for automo- bile-boxly outer panels, or surface-treatet sheets—were made from rimmed ingots to take advantage of their superior Sur- face cleanliness The builing action of live steel is fur sdamentally incompatible with the sta- ble operation of a continuous castin machine, however, and so a heat ia wars killed before itis teumed! inte acasting machine’s tundish. Products macle from continuously cast steel are more uniform than those made from either rimmed or killed ingots because the solidification process is continuous over a heat or many heats of steel. Un- less care is taken, however, the surface properties of continuously cast steel are not as good as those of rimmed steel. Many of the improvements in the refining. and casting of steel described below are directed at improving the quality of the steel's surface layer. To- gether these improvements allow the Production of continuously cast steels Whose surface properties are compara- ble to those of rimmed steels. Steel Refining By the late 1970s, all of Japan’s major steelworks had installed basic oxygen converters to refine pig iron into steel. The first converters were top-blown, largely because of the technological difficulty of developing an oxygen nozzle that could be set at the bottom, of the converter. The first bottom blown converter was introduced to Japan from the United States in 1977 Extensive experience with both top- blown and bottom-blown converters led to the development of top-and-bottom= blown vessels, andl mest of the convert= fers now in use are the combined type In addition to the changes in the de- sign of the refining furnace, there has been a fundamental change in refining, practice. In the conventional steelmak= Ing process, the refining furnace was the site of a complex series of reactions that eliminated impurities such as sili- con, phosphorus and sulfur from the pig iron, as well as reducing the amount of carbon, Recently, however, many Japanese steel plants have been pretreating the pig iron before charg- ing the converter and making final ad- justments to the melt in a secondary re- fining step after converter refining, Thus the converter’s function has been reduced to the tasks of removing car bon and bringing the molten steel to the high temperature needed for the subsequent steps of secondary refining, and continuous casting, Simplifying the converter’s function, has increased refining efficiency in two. ways. It has virtually eliminated the need to reblow heats to achieve target chemistries, and it has shortened fefin ing times. For bath reasons, the steel maker has better control over the scheduling of the subsequent contint ‘ous casting process, Indeed, stoelmak= Figure 3. Molten pig iron is poured into an oxygen converter from a ladle. The pig irom has ‘been made from iron ore in a coke-fired blast furnace, which removes oxygen from the ore at high nperatures. Refining was once done in an opes-hearth furnace, but it oder Steelmaking itis divided into several stages. Before arriving tthe converter, pig iron is pretreated in a transportation vessel called a torpedo car, there special fluxes are injected to ‘emove sulfur and phosphorus. After refining in the converter, low-carbon steel is further refined in a vacuum degasse. cers now speak of continuous continu- ‘ous casting. By this they mean the suc- cessive casting of many heats of steel, including ones with differing chem: istries, in an unbroken slab. The third innovation in refining technology is the automation of the converter’s operation. The inputs to the control program are the volume, temperature and chemical composition of the pig iron and the target carbon content and temperature for the batch. The computer selects an oxygen-blow ing schedule that should result in the simultaneous achievement of both tar ets. Shortly before the blowing is to tnd, the properties of the melt aze mea: stired, and the computer modifies the blowing schedule as needed to hit the targets simultaneously itis important to avoid interruption of the oxygen blow, because once the ‘oxygen blow is stopped, air enters the converter and nitrogen in the air dis solves in the steel. In the steelmaking, industry, the ratio of heats refined in cone blow to the fotal number of heats is called the hit ratio. In the major Japanese steelworks, the hit ratio is higher than 95 percent. Reblowing has been all but eliminated, The properties of the melt are mea: sured by immersing a sublance in the molten steel. Each time measurements are made a cardboard sleeve that con- tains several sensors is inserted over the lance tip. The temperature of the steel is measured by a thermocouple at the sleeve tip. A second thermocou: ple measures the solidification tem- perature of a sample of steel that en: ters the cardboard sleeve through a hole. This temperature is a good indi cation of a stee!’s carbon content, Thealloying elements Figure 4. Vacuum deyasser i sed asa second stage in refining to reduce the carbon content of te, ‘o remove gaseous impurities such as oxygen and hydrogen and i add minute amounts of alloying clement. The deyasser consists of a refractory lined vessel with two legs atthe baton. lade of steels placed under the vessel and lite up unt the depasser’ legs are immersed in molten tel Argon gas i introduced into one ofthe legs, and the resulting density diference causes the see Yo circulate through the vese giving up dissolved gases in the procest. The decarburizng eatin imiiatly accelerated by blowing oxygen into the degaser Then oxygen injection i stopped, and 4 small amount of aluminum is added to deoxidize the molten tel The continuing circulation ofthe steel causes any aluminum oxide to float tothe top fomninga slag layer rk re hat can be removed. A suction pump maintains low atmospheric pressure nthe veel. SH. American Scientist, Volume so oxygen content of the steel is mea sured by a special zirconia sensor. All of the readings are made in the brief instant between the immersion of the probe and its destruction, Secondary Refining Once the melt has achieved the target temperature and carbon content in the oxygen converter, it undergoes sec- ondary refining in a vacuum degasser. Asa step in the making of low-carbon steels, secondary refining has three Purposes: to further reduce the carbon, content, to remove dissolved gases and to add minute amounts of alloy- ing elements. To make a ductile steel that can be deep-drawn, the carbon content of the steel must be reduced. to very low levels. Small amounts of alloying elements are then sometimes added to increase the steel's strength and to give it a better balance of me- chanical properties. To make high quality steel, it is necessary to remove dissolved gases, such as hydrogen, ni- trogen and oxygen. Dissolved oxygen is particularly undesirable because it combines with various addition agents and alloying elements to form oxides 010 partial pressure bf carbon monoxide percent oxygen by weight 2 obs ane percent carbon by weight Figure Carbon-onygen equilibrium cuves explain why tower carbon contents can be reached ina degassr than in an oxygen come verter The carbon and oxygen comtert of ‘molten sel reach an equilbeim that spe ‘iit the te’ temperature andthe paral Pressure of carbon monoxide. the tempera ture ofthe te constants oxygen content increases ais carbon content decreases This ‘Sundesiable Deas delved oygen sa ‘major soure of cefects in tel. I the tes “posed lower atmonpherc pressures tom and oxygen act inan effort toesablisha new eqllbrium. The carton monoxide pro Alcea by this ection escapes fom the stem sagas andthe oxygen nti this way So tomgeravallbt for nonmetallic nla sion This rap shows the theoretical carbonthat remain in the steel as inclusions Non-metallic oxide inclusions are a ‘major source of internal and surface defects in steel sheets, It is difficult, however, to reduce the carbon content of the steel below a cer- tain level without increasing its oxygen content. The carbon and oxygen in steel are in equilibrium, and the equi- librium relation is such that at low car- bon content, the oxygen content of the steel increases dramatically. During re- fining, the oxygen content of the steel is typically even greater than the equi- librium curves predict, because oxygen is being forcibly injected into the melt. ‘The governing equilibrium curve de- pends on the atmospheric pressure ot, properly speaking, on the partial pres- sure of carbon monoxide. If this pressure is reduced, a much lower carbon content can be achieved before the abrupt rise in oxygen content is encountered. This is why the final decarburization of a heat is performed in a vacuum degasser rather than in an oxygen converter The decarburizing reaction is sus- tained by two different mechanisms during secondary refining, When the degasser is first charged with molten steel, the oxygen content of the melt is insufficient 10 sustain an effective de- carburization reaction, ancl oxygen is injected into the vessel to accelerate this reaction. Later, the oxygen is shut olf, and decarburization is sustained by bubbling argon gas through the melt, The argon gas, which is injected through the melt during the entire time of the vacuum degassing treatment, Figure 6. Continuous casing machine extrudes thot slab of steel after itis east ina sealed ys tem. Molin tel refined in the vacuum degasseris transferred to the continuous: casting machine, The molten tel in the lad ‘is tapped into an intermediary vessel called tundish that provides a steadier supply of sect tothe casting machine The ste! flows from the tundish trough an adjustable siding-gate vale. I passes ino the watercooled copper ‘mold throughs an immersion nozzle, whose slesgn is rita othe stability of the casting paces. Inthe mold the steel forms. solid Skin, which must avel smoothly ta contain, {he forming slab and prevent catastrophic breakouts As shown in Figure 7, electromag ets are sometimes placed inthe wall ofthe mold for braking the casting of slabs for sheet products the hot lb spilled from the ‘mold by withdrawal rolls which bend it into ‘he horizontal plane, so that casting a be accommodated in lower building and ladles donot have tobe lite t rest hehFigure 7. Electromagnetic braking system helps to achieve stable operation ofthe continuous casting machine and to produce defect-free slabs. Inthe conventional casting process (ef the molten steel emerges from the immersion nozzle with high kinetic energy. The steam ‘of molten steel can impair the stable formation ofthe slab’s skin. Moreover, the steam carries non-metallic inclusions mal ies) deep into the mold a tetards their re-ascension. The braking system creates a strong electromagnetic field justin font ofthe holes in the {immersion nozzle. Stel flowing through this field generates a force tha opposes its motion, decreasing the directional energy of the flow and making it turbulent. Turbulent flow does not threaten the thermo-couple a (2) a a () : § | _____________c, Figure 8. New means of predicting and preventing breakouts have reduced interruptions to cast- ing operations. breakout is the rupture ofa forming sab thal releases the molten steel with it Breakout typically acur when the solidifying skin sticks tothe mold instead of siding, smoothly through it Sticking canbe detected by embedding an array of thermocouples in the sses over a thermocouple, the thermocouple registers 3 in temperature. When the differential ofthe temperature rise exceeds a thveshold the slab’ withdrawal speed is abruptly decreased. (From Itoyama eal. 1988), Me American Scents, lume fying skin and assists inclusions to surface. (Based on Yagi 1990) ‘creates density gradients that cause the melt to circulate through the degasser, ensuring that the steel is exposed to low pressure at the surface. The argon also strengthens the decarburizing re- action by reducing the partial pressure ‘of carbon monoxide in the bubbles de- carburization produces. The carbon content of fully refined steel is a tiny fraction of the carbon content of the original pig iron. Pig iron contains about 4 percent by weight of dissolved carbon, which means that 10 tons of carbon are dis- solved in 250 tons of pig iron. By the time oxygen blowing at converter re- fining is completed, the carbon content has been reduced to between 0.02 and 0.04 percent. Secondary refining in a vvacutim degasser decreases the carbon, content in some cases to levels as low 5 0.002 oF 0.003 percent. After decarburization is completed, the remaining dissolved oxygen is eliminated by adding a small amount of aluminum to the steel. The alu- minum and oxygen react to form alu minum oxide, which tloats up to the surface. Although most of the alu- inum oxide is removed with the slag, some remains in the melt. Thorough slegassing allows less aluminum to be added, reducing defects caused by ali= ‘minum oxide inclusions.os rca | ‘oie os a as? 5 it ive of modern steel-sheet rolling mills. Its Figure 9. Hotstrip rolling mill at Kawasaki Stel Corporation's Mizushima Works is represent sivchigh millstands, hydraulically controled, include thee kinds of rolls work rll, whi up rolls; and non-driven intermediate rolls. The mills fully continuous, with in contact wit the steel slabs large back: ve stands for rough rolling and seven stands for finish rolling, Such a mil ean produce steel sheets as thin a 0.047 inches (1.2 millimeters) in widths between 24and 87 inches, Continuous Casting, In Japan, 95 percent of all crude steel continuously cast as it emerges from the refining stage. Only products such. as big forgings that cannot be continu- ly cast are formed in other ways Continuous casting is one of the most spectacular steps in steelmaking, but also potentially one of the most trou- blesome, and much effort has been de- voted to making this process more sta ble and reliable. Because casting is the last step where the metal is molten, itis particularly important that it be clean, Remarkable means of preventing re- contamination and reducing inclusions have also been devised, The big problem in the operation of 2 continuous casting, machine is pre venting the slab’s skin from sticking to the inner faces of the copper mold through which it descends, forming, slab is typically not completely solid until it has traveled 10 or 15 meters from the outlet of the mold. Within the mold itself, a core of molten steel is contained by only a thin skin of solid steel. If this skin sticks and rips open, molten steel spills down through the casting machine, welding its parts to- gether This catastrophic event is called abreakout. The primary means of preventing, sticking are to lubricate the mold and. to vibrate it in some way. In general, the mold vibrates vertically ata rate of 100 cycles per minute, moving only five or 10 millimeters in either direc tion, The vibration prevents the skin from sticking, but it causes another problem. Each time the mold de- scends, molten steel flows over the outer surface of the skin, remelting. it and forming a slight ridge. Some alloy ing elements, and particularly non- metallic inclusions, tend to be sere gated near the ridges, making them a Source of surface defects in products. ‘To solve this problem, engineers have tried to increase the mold’s rate of vi- bration to 400 cycles per minute, and to decrease its travel. The smoother slabs have fewer surface detects, (One purpose of mold vibration is to allow a molten flux, or lubricant, to be Introduced between the mold wall and. the solidifying skin. The flux must meet two requitements. It must be flue id at the casting temperature of steel, which is roughly one-quarter the sur face temperature of the sun, and it must prevent the eeoxidation or the re- carburization of the molten steel. At Kawasaki Steel, a specially developed multi-component flux is currently used for this purpose. Inthe past the molten steel was sim- ply poured from an open ladle after m= fining into an open tundish, through which it drained into.an open mold. In current practice, the entire system is sealed, and the dead space above the #2 NovembercDsember 547Figure 10. Profile of a rolled strip is determined by the profile or crown, of the work rolls ‘There are several methods of crown control this simplified drasving shows 2m arrangement that incorporates three typical methods. The profile ofthe work rol the roll that comes in contact with the sab, cam be changed from that of a simple cylinder to coun teract wear and produce a desi 2 effect on the shape ofthe product. The work rll can be shifted along its axis during rolling to change the distribution ofthe rolling load, which Influences the rol profile, and also to smear out scratch defects onthe surface of the roll. Finally, the work roll can be bent into a desired profile during rolling by hydraulic devices ends that apply pressure othe steel bath in the tundish is filled with argon gas. Sealing the system prevents secondary oxidation of the steel and the defects that would cause. Together degassing and sealed casting have made it possible to produce steels with an oxygen content belaw 10 parts per million, which is the oxygen content needed for bearing steels and other products that must have a very homo- geneous structure ‘The smooth operation of the casting, machine also requires control over the rate at which steel flows into the mold. If the rate of low fluctuates, the stable growth and formation of the slab’s shell is threatened, and a breakout be- comes more likely. The level of the meniscus in the mold is measured by special sensors and adjusted by open- ing or closing a slide-gate valve at the bottom of the tundish. The level of the stee! in the tundish is also controlled. The steel from the tundish emerges through the immersion nozzle in the mold at high temperature and with great force. If t collides with the soli: ilying skin, it can impair its stable for- mation. Moreover, the stream sets up a deep circulation pattern in the mold that tends to trap nonmetallic inchi- sions within the solidifying steel. At Kawasaki Steel the outflowing steel is magnetically braked. Coils embedded in the copper mold produce a strong electromagnetic field at the center of the mold. Steel flowing through this field generates a force that opposes its flow. By this means, the steel’s direc- tional energy is decreased, and the flow in the top portion of the mold be- comes more turbulent. Turbulence de- creases the energy with which the ‘molten steel collides with the solidity- ing skin and assists nonmetallic inclu- sions to float to the surface, Understanding the operation of the continuous casting machine and pre- dicting the outcome of design changes often means solving problems in three- dimensional fluid dynamics, At Kawa- saki Steel, proposed design changes are studied with a full-size physical model (with water substituting for steel) and with a three-dimensional fi- nite-element model. Magnetic braking, for example, was refined with the as. sistance of finite-element analysis on a supercomputer. ‘One final way to prevent breakout incidents is to monitor the casting Process for precursor conditions and to reduce the withdrawal speed of the slab whenever those conditions are de- tected. One way to detect an impend- ing breakout is to embed thermocou- ples in the wall of the mold. The skin that reforms over a break is anom- alously thin, and a thermocouple regis ters a sharp rise in temperature as this, part of the slab passes over it. When the differential of one of the themocou- ple signals exceeds a threshold, the slab’s withdrawal speed is abruptly decreased. Together these improve- ‘ments have made continuous casting a reliable and predictable process. The record for nonstop casting currently stands at 800 heats of steel! Integrating Casting and Rolling Steel emerges from these steps as a ‘ast slab that hardens as it cools, Once the steel is solid, innovations focus on two goals common to most manufac- turing operations: integrating steps in the process and bringing as much of the process as possible under auto- matic control. Integrating two processes sounds easy, but there is a hidden difficulty Unless care is taken, an integrated line will be less productive than its compo- nent lines. If two processing lines are ‘each operational % percent of the time, and they are combined, the integrated line can be expected to be up and run- ning only 90 percent of the time. In other words, achieving the old level of productivity in a newly integrated line requires boosting the reliability of the component lines. Many engineering changes must also bbe made to match the capacity, temper- ature and production pattern of one line with those of another. A few of the diffi- culties encountered in coupling contin- ‘uous casting and hot-strip rolling serve as an example. In plants where the Processes are separate, cast slabs are dressed before rolling to remove de- fects. Hot direct rolling, as the continu ‘ous process is called, is possible only if the slabs are defect-iee to start with. As, «result, the continuous process requires, that more rigorous conditions be main- tained during the casting operation, A second problem is the width of the slab. By nature continuous casting is most efficient ifthe slab width never changes. But hot rolling typically fol- ows.a “coifin’ slab-rolling schedisle in which the width of the slabs decreases. in order of rolling during one cycle in the life of a roll. The purpose of this schedule is to avoid the imprinting of a \ 1 |Feedback system Feedforward system > (Brews computer J >| Ts) Sensor cont roller for roll-gap devices igure 1. Gage-contol system is one example ofthe automa sre controls the final millstand three factors the contro systems on which modem steeimaking depends, The system shown, ichness ofthe stel sheet produced by the Finishing stands in 3 hot-trip rolling mill (Shown are three stands of what ight be a seven-stand mil, with a pair each of work roll, intermediate rolls and backup rolls om each stand) As the sheet emerges from the is deviation from a specified thickness is measured by xray r gamma-ray sensors, The thickness of the sheet i influenced by ling load (or, equivalently, the gap between work rolls the strip tension between millstands and the rol speed. These factors must be adjusted ina coordinated fashion to achieve adequate contol over thickness, A computer determines how changes inthe rolling load willbe allocated among millstands, taking into account the type of stel the thickness and width of the final product, the rolling temperature and other factors, Ifa milltand’ oll gap is decreased, the strip tension between thi change is automatically corrected by increasing th ‘Adjustments in rotational speed and looper-all height propa a second. Achieving a response this rap ware and software, including multivariable control systems, wear mark on the roll surface where the outside edges of the rolled product go through.) One way to provide slabs of varying width to the rolling mill is to use an adjustable mold for casting, In general, the short sides of the copper mold in the casting machine are made up of movable segments that can be adjusted during casting to produce a narrower or wider slab. A second solu: tion is a horizontal mull. At Kawasaki Steel, a special lateral press machine ‘was recently placed just in front of the roughing mill in the hotstrip rolling train, This press can change the slab width by as much as 300 millimeters quickly enough to avoid interrupting the rolling schedule, ‘A third problem is to keep the slabs hot between the casting machine and the rolling mill so that they do not have to be reheated before rolling, A variety of measures may be adopted for this, purpose. For example, the casting ma- chine might be insulated, the casting speed might be increased, the transit {ume to the mill might be shortened and transport cars might be insulated. As this example suggests, much more is involved in process integration than the physical connection of process equipment. But when integration is suc- cessful, the payoff can be substantial For example, the adoption of hot direct rolling in Japan between 1973 and 1983, cut in half the fuel consumed per ton of steel produced. Integration also increas: cs the material yield, improves the qual: ity and uniformity of products and re- duces manpower requirements. olational speed ofthe work rolls and the hel stand and the nest one decreases. This tof the looper rll between the millstands, fe forward and backward through the entire rolling mill within hundredths of requires a “hard” mill whose mechanical parts have litle play, good sensors and sophisticated hard- Hot-Strip Rolling When the slab leaves the continuous casting machine, it may be 200 to 260) millimeters thick, which is roughly the thickness of a mattress. The hot-strip rolling mill crushes the slab into a sheet only 1.2 to 3 millimeters thick, or the thickness of a dime. Usually hot rolling, isdone at a temperature range between 1,250 and 800 degrees Celsius. The role of hot rolling is not only thickness re- duction but also the refinement of mi- crostrcture and grain size to give good properties to steel products. Hot-rolled: Steel, or hot band as it is called, is used for heavy applications, such as the frame of an automobile, The hot band may be subsequently pickled in order to scale off the oxidized surface layer, and cold-rolled at ambient 62 November-Dasember 548carbon (pats pe ition) Figure 12. Steady decrease in carbon contents the most striking trend in stel for automotive ‘uses The ultrstow carbon steels are more ductile than the ordinary low-carbon, or mild steels ‘they are eplacing and have better press-orming characteristics. The redution in carbon content was made possible by improvements in refining techniques that allow the carbon ‘content of steel to be reduced to ultralow levels om a production bass, This graph shows the average carbon content of stel sheet for automobile-body use. (From Yagi 1990), temperature to reduce its thickness to a fraction ofa millimeter. Cold-rolled steel is used for most automobile body pan- els, such as hoods and doors, among other applications Rolling mills are mammoth pieces of equipment. & typical millstand ‘weighs betiveen 240 and 300 tons. De- spite the millstands’ mass, they are subjected to tremendous shaking, called mill chatter, as slabs of steel are driven through them. Yet they must be aligned to microscopic tolerances to produce a straight piece of stel of uni= form thickness. Each millstand consists of rolls sup- ported on bearings within a large block of steel structures called mill housings The work rolls, which revolve in oppo- site directions, grip the slab and draw it between them. tn “four-high” mills, massive backup rolls exert pressure on the work rolls and, through them, on the steel. “Sicchigh” mills have an termediate roll between the backup roll and the work rol Although the rolls in a millstand have ‘ery heavy weights, their weight alone is not sufficient to crush the steel. The rolls aw assisted by a serwedown system that austs the map betwen the work gos and provides the total rolling load re- quired. \ llstand in a hotstrip mill typically has a maximum rolling load of betwveen 3,000 and 5,000 tons. A mille stand ina cold-rlling mill might have a imum rolling load of 2,500 tons, 1 improvement of hotrolling and American Scientist, Vilume cold-rolling equipment in recent years now makes it possible to produce sheets of uniform thickness even un- der difficult rolling conditions. In older nillstands, the gap between work rolls, was controlled with a motor-driven screwdown system. In recently con structed millstands, the motor-driven systems have been replaced by hy- draulic cylinders, or rams, which have ‘much faster response times. The faster response allows the rolling speed of the mill to be increased with= ‘out producing large quantities of prod= uct that is off gage, oF the wrong thick- ness, The rolling speed of acold-rolling aill may exceed 2,000 meters per minute. At this speed, the electric screwdowns are simply’ too slow to provide effective control. In contrast, the transmission lag,for contro signals ina typical hydraulic serewdown sys- tem is only 0.05 second. If the rolling speed is 2,000 meters per minute, only TSS of sheet fs fcagh mullstand during this interval ‘To minimize lateral variations in the thickness of a sheet itis necessary to control work-oll crown, the tendency of the work roll to depart from a per- fectly eylindrical shape. The body of the roll bends under high rolling forces, and this bending tends to create a sheet that is thinner af the edges than at the center, To correct the sheet profile, the body of the work roll has traditionally been ‘ground to have a slight barrel shape, or town, The snag is that different prox! ucts require different roll crowns be- cause their widths, thicknesses and de- formation strengths vary. Moreover, the desirable work-roll profile changes as the roll undergoes thermal expansion during use and as it wears, Several methods of variable crown, control are now in widespread use. One technique is to bend the work rolls by means of hydraulic devices that apply pressure to the chocks, or roll ends. The hydraulic pressure can be made to vary with the width and thickness of the steel strip andi the type of steel. A second technique is to shift the rolls laterally. This redistributes the load along the rol’s length, altering the roll’s deformation during service. in a sichigh mill the intermediate rolls are shifted by hydraulic devices acting on theit roll chocks. In a four high-mill, the work rolls are shifted, and this re quires a more complicated mechanism because the work rolls are connected to the drive spinclles. The third tech- nique is to modify the roll design to provide a variable crown. For example, one possibility is to grind the work rolls to have an S-shaped profile. The desired strip profile is then achieved bby adjusting the offset of two S-shaped work rolls ‘The modern millstand is equipped with automatic systems for the control ‘of gage and strip profile. The control systems receive information from a va- riety of sensors and apply sophisticated control algorithms to determine the ap- propriate corrective actions. Computer control, together with a more continu ‘ous process, has resulted in remarkable improvements in the flatness of sheet produits. For example, auto-use sheets typically deviate less than 10 microns (millionths ofa meter) from thei nom- inal thickness of between 0.6 and 0.8 millimeter, Continuous Annealing and Galvanizing Annealing, one of the last steps in the ‘manufacture of steel for automobile body panels, has been converted from a batch to a continuous process in the past 20 years. In addition, improve- ‘ments in annealing facilities have made it possible to produce new, premium steels. Improvements in facilities and technologies for galvanizing, another important process that is among the last of the steps in making surface-treat- ted sheets, allow coatings to be made of alloys or to have multiple layers, ‘To give sufficient ductility to low-car- bon steel sheet, the cold-rolled steclmust be recrystallized by reheating it to 750 to 900 degrees Celsius, or anneal- ing. For along time, this was done by a technique called box annealing or batch annealing. Steel coil was heated in a covered box in which non-oxidizing gas was circulated, This process had several drawbacks. It took several days, and annealing the steel in the form of a coil led to inferior shape and surface quality. Finally, the material properties of the annealed sheet exhib- ited considerable variation because it was difficult to achieve uniform tem- perature throughout the cil In a continuous annealing line, an unbroken strip of steel makes many passes through heating, soaking and cooling towers, threading through rolls, at the bottom and top of the towers. One striking advantage is higher throughput; annealing lines for auto- motive sheet operate at line speeds of about 500 meters per minute. The time necessary to anneal the coil has been reduced from the several days it took in the old batch process to just several minutes in the continuous process. In addition, the continuous process pro duces steels with more uniform prop- erties than does a batch process. ‘The first industrial annealing line for deep-drawing-grade steel began oper ation only in’1972. Tinplate had been annealed by a continuous process since tie 1930s, but the lines used for this, purpose were not capable of achieving the metallurgical properties needed for steels that were to be deep-drawn, To- day in Japan, almost all steel sheet for automotive applications is processed. in continuous annealing lines. Galvanizing is done by two differ- ent methods, hot-dip coating and electrolytic coating. Hot-dip galvaniz= ing is done by dipping the steel strip through the melted zinc bath; by con- trast, clectrogalvanizing is accom- plished by passing the steel strip be- tween electrodes immersed in the zinc-containing solution, Before the switch to continuous processes, in a hot-dip galvanizing line single sheets were passed in close suc cession through a bath of molten met- al. In electrogalvanizing lines, sheared sheets were placed in a zinc-laden so- lution through which a current was passed. In moder continuous facili ties, steel is unwound trom coils and passes as a unbroken strand through the processing line. Continuous galv hiring lines have many of the same ad vantages as continuous annealing Figure 13.The low-carbon h-ten steels made by Kawasaki Steel exploit two hardening mecha- nisms. The firsts called solid-solution hardening, At room temperature, pure iron has a body centered cubic structure called ferite. The addition of alloying elements puts the ion crystal Latice under strain, erecting energy barriers tothe movement of dislocations and thereby strengthening the metal. Although atoms of afew elements can reside in the empty spaces with- inthe lattice (lef, atoms of most elements must replace an ator of iron ata lattice sit right) lines, including higher throughput and greater product uniformity. In addition, improvements in galva- nizing lines have made it practical to deposit alloy coatings and multi-layer coatings. Because every metal has its ‘own electrochemical behavior, itis dif- ficult to control the composition of a multi-component coating precisely. It is also hard to keep a multi-component process clean for any length of time. Both problems have been solved, and sophisticated processes have been re- alized on an industrial scale. The pay- off is improved corrosion resistance and the ability to manipulate other ‘manufacturing characteristics, such as paint adhesion and spot weldability. Continuous annealing and galvaniz~ ing lines could not operate without so- phisticated control technologies. Con- tinuous annealing lines, for example, ‘must be automatically controlled to en- sure steady track running of very long strips of steel at high speed through complex pass structures. As the steel ppasses through zones of different tem- perature, it expands and contracts, and itmakes contact with many rolls. High- speed operation requires automatic control over the tension of the strip from point to point within the line, The ticles of second crystalline phase ae pre isssid the stel cuts through a coherent precipita cipitate i said to be non-coherent ight 14 Precipitation hardening is another way of hardening low-carbon stel, Minute pa lated inside the crystals of ion. The lattice struc: ture ofthe second phase can be continuous with th be coherent (lef. A dislocation, oF slippage of crystal planes, propagating through the Lattice structive i discon the case of non-oherent precipitates dislocation ‘cannot proceed through the precipitate, but leaves a circle of dislocation aroun of the itn, in which case the precipitate tous the pre- in practice, itisditicut to contol the type of precipitate that forms, nd low carbon hi-tenstels general ly contain both types 12 Nowembve-PevemberFigure 15, Bake-hardenable stel isa low-carbon ste! with bul slectron-beam micrographs, each covering an area slightly more than two mi where it has very different yield strengths, After ‘exhibits few dislocations (Lf). Because ofthis microstrocture, drawing operat paint on the automo forming centering of the strip must also be auto- ‘matically controlled to prevent an un- stable, snaky motion, Ductile and Strong Steels (One of the fundamental requirements for automotive steels is drawability. Automobile panels are. typically formed by pressing the steel sheet over adie. The panel may undergo large de- formations during press forming, and good press performance is obtained only ifthe steel is ductile, or drawable. Historically, most automotive panels Figure 16. One ofthe final steps in steelmaking i to roughen thes tiom ol, which is required to press the sh when the panels are later pain in harder were made from low-carbon (mild) steel for this reason. In the past, the achievable carbon content was limited by refining tech- nology. Mild steel has a carbon content of between 0.02 and 0.05 percent by ‘weight, levels that can be attained with standard refining and degassing tech- nology. The converter and secondary refining processes described earlier have now made it possible to achieve carbon contents lower than 01003 per- cent on a production basis. Steel with this ultra-low carbon content has a 1's surface so thatthe 1g mechanisms that canbe triggered when appropriate, These irons wide, show the microstructure ofthe steel at two stages ig and annealing, the stel has a uniform microstructure that is not under strain and the stel has the low yield strength and good ductility needed forthe deep- 1s by which comprehensive automabile-body pars are made, When the steel is deep-arawn, the plastic deformation of the ‘meta introduces many dislocations increasing yield strength (ig. When the steel lebody surface, solute carbon diffuses tothe dislocations multi ‘ves them, further inreasing yield strength, later baked at 180 to 200 degrees Celsius to cure the iplied by the plastic deformation caused by press drawability much superior to that of the highest-quality steel product that has been traditionally supplied, and is called extra-deep-drawing-quality grade, or EDDQ-grade steel, ‘The average carbon content of steel sheet for automotive use has, in fact, been steadily decreasing over the past 30 ‘years. Today EDDQ steel accounts for 35, to 40 percent by weight of the steel in Japanese passenger cars, and some steel ‘making firms, such as Kawasaki Steel, ‘make almost all automotive sheets from ultra-low-carbon steels sl sheet can hold a small amount of lubrica- toa die cavity for forming. Poor control over microscapic texture, however, cam reduce luster ‘Texture is imparted tothe sheet during skin-pass rolling by roughened work roll In the past the work rolls were roughened by shot-blasting, a process that affords litle conteol over microscopic roughness ll Laser textured work colle have 4mnuch more uniform texture (righ. Ava result, painted body panels have superior luster These micrographs show am sve about eight, tenths ofa millimeter wide. (From Furukawa 1988) American Sent, Volume?But there has been a second, and equally important, trend in the use of automiotive steels. In the past 30 years, automotive panels have become pro- gressively thinner as manufacturers sought to reduce vehicle weights and boost fuel economy. The traditional means of strengthening steek include reusing the carbon content and adding large amounts of alloying ele- ments; these methods trade drawabili- ty for tensile strength. (Tensile strength is the maximum stretching stress a specimen of the material can withstand without tearing.) Kawasaki Steel, ooking fora way to combine drawability and tensile strength, took a less traditional ap. proach to the problem and developed a high-tensile-strength, or “hi-ten, steel that is macle from an ultra-low: carbon base. This steel has greater ten sile strength than the EDDQ and mild steels but retains the microstructure re- quired for deep drawing. About 10 percent of the inner panels and 30 per- Cent of the outer panels in a typical automobile are now made from ultra- low-carbon hi-ten steel Hicten steel is strengthened by two mechanisms: solid-solution hardening and precipitation harelening, The plas- tic deformation of metal is caused by the slide of a crystal lattice plane, which is due to the movement of a special type of atomic dislocation on that plane. Methods of strengthening. steel are effective to the extent that they impede or block the movement of dislocations. Both solute atoms and precipitates create energy barriers that make it harder for dislocations to move through the metal Iron at room temperature is in an atomic arrangement, or phase, called ferrite—cubic crystals with atoms of fron at the corners and one atom in the cubic center (called a body-centered c= bic lattice). Ferrite can dissolve many other elements, which are then said to exist in solid solution within it, The dis- solved atoms can either replace an iron atom in the crystal lattice or occupy an interstitial position. Ions of only three elements—hydrogen, carbon and nit: gen—are small enough to occupy the Interstitial positions. Among the ele ments that take up substitutional posi tions are phosphorus, silicon, man. ese, chromium and nickel, Atoms ort the lat that im pedes the movement of dislocations he magnitude of the strain field varies to any of these elements dist tice, setting up a strain fie pe, Figure 17, Elecrogalvanizing line at Kawasaki Stee! Corporation's Mizushima Works isn ‘example ofa continuous process at the end of the manufacture of steel sheet, Stel is ‘unwound from coils and passes as an unbroken strand through a coating solutio which electrodes are immersed. Continuous galvanizing lines can deposit mulllayer coatings and alloys with precision in a clean environment, the result being improved corrosion resistance and the ability to manipulate other manufactoring characteristics. with the element, but the effect is par- ticularly large in the case of carbon and phosphorus, Small amounts of these e: ements can be used to produce very strong steels. Phosphorus is used to strengthen the ferrite matriy in auto: motive steels, since the carbon content is recluced to very low levels to achieve the ductility and crystallographic te ture needed for deep drawing, A second method of strengthening, steel is to disperse hard particles or precipitates in it, Carbon steels nor mally contain hard iron carbides (Fe\C) dispersed in a relatively soft matrix of ferrite. The closer the spacing af these ron carbides and, to some extent, the smaller thei size, the steonger the am rela- steel, However, the equilit tion of dissolved carbon and iron carFigure 18, Anti-corrosion coatings on steel must be compatible with the phosphate films that will be deposited om the steel asa preliminary step to promote paint adhesion. These electron micrographs show the differen naked steel and on steel with azine or zincrich coating. The phosphophyllite {al structure that anchors for paint adhesion. Forth rich anti-corrosion coatings. The area shown is about 85 microns wide. bide is such that if the carbon content of the steel is reduced to low levels, there will be little iron carbide. Titanium and niobium can form bi nary compounds with carbon much more easily than iron, and so they can precipitate in the ferrite matrix even when it has a very low carbon content Moreover, their precipitates, especially niobium carbide, can be made ex- tremely fine and dense by the proper selection of chemical composition and processing conditions. For this reass comparatively small additions of tita nium and niobium suffice to strength- en steel Niobium carbide also makes it pos- sible to exploit a third mechanism for strengthening steel. Another way to limit the movement of dislocations is to decrease the size of the crystal grains in the metal. Finely precipitated niobi- ‘um carbides retard the growth of re- crystallized grains during hot rolling or annealing, Because the final grain size is smaller, the metal is stronger. One type of hicten steel exploits these hardening mechanisms in a par- ticularly ingenious way. In bake-hard- enable steel, niobium is used to control the state of the carbon in the steel dur ing processing, The steel remains duc tile until it is deep drawn and assumes. high yield strength thereafter. (The yield Strength of 2 metal is a measure Of the stress needed to initiate the movement of dislocations; that is, the vield strength is the stress at which plastic deformation begins ) Early in processing, the small amounts of solute carbon in the steel are fixed as niobium carbide, In the S84 American Sciatn, Vaumes) highest temperature zone of the con. tinuous annealing process, however, some of the niobium carbide decom- poses, and a small amount of carbon is dissolved in the steel. Rapid cooling to ambient temperature results in a mi- crostructure that includes solid-solu- tion carbon and few dislocations. Stee] sheets of this type have the low yield strength and the good ductility needed for the deep-drawing operations by which comprehensive auto-body parts are made, When the panels are deep-drawn at the factory, plastic deformation intro- duces many strains into the micro- structure and produces complex tan- gles of dislocations that impede the ‘movement of other dislocations. The yield strength of the material is in- ‘reased by this process, called work hardening. When the panels are later baked after painting, the solute carbon in the steel diffuses to the dislocation sites and fixes their movement. (The stored energy at the dislocation site can be decreased by surrounding the dislocation with carbon atoms.) Bake hardening, as this mechanism is called, further increases the yield strength of the panel. Coated Steels Another property of steel sheet that has a bearing on its press performance is surface roughness. The same proper- ty also has much to do with the beauty and durability of finished panels. When steels are to be deep-drawn, their surface roughness must be ad justed to match the characteristics of the die and of the lubricant used dur- between the structure of the phosphate films that form on im that forms on naked steel (lft hasa fine, niform crys: paint securely. The hopeite film that forms on zinc (right) tends to have & rough siorphology thats ot as good reason, moder galvanizing lines apply a thin coating of iron or an iranerch zinc alloy on top of zine ot tine- ing forming. The required degree of roughness is imparted to the steel sheet in a final rolling operation, called skinpass rolling, by means of rough- ened, or dulled, work rolls. In the past, the work rolls were roughened by steel shot or an electric arc. Both methods gave litte control over the microscopic Toughness of the sheet, however. This was a drawback because the micro- scopic roughness determines the re- flectivity of the panel, and poor reflec- tivity diminishes the panel's luster when itis painted. Laser technology has provided a so- lution to this problem, Rotating skin- pass work rolls are exposed to the beam from a choked carbon-dioxide laser, and oxygen is blown onto the beam spot. By this means, the roll’s surface is covered with a regular pat tern of small concavities, or dimples, Both the pattern and the diameter of the dimples can be easily controlled. When the panel is deep-drawn with propriate lubrication, the flat areas between the dimples survive, produc- ing an ideal surface for painting. This technique provides superlative top- coat luster even if the undercoat is not hand-polished The coating problem of which the automobile buyer is most aware is cor rosion resistance. Anti-corrosion goals have been established in both Canada and the United Slates, and car makers now offer guarantees against cosmetic corrosion of the outer surface of body panels and perforation of panel coat- Ings. For this reason, the use of coated steels for boly panels has been rapidly increasing. Today, 3) percent of autormotive panels are coated ths ig tre i expect! Yo rise to 80 percent in the men ature, Zinc s commonly used fr protective coatings nse zine is one of thew ‘metals that ors tight electrical ond With tet protects the stl frome at tack by sacrificing itself rather than merely by proving a barrier to chem fal attack. Zine coatings have two drawbcks, however The corrosion fe sistance ofa zine coating isnot highca- though i can be improved by making the coating thicker achieving the quired corrosion resistance by this means can Be prohibitively expensive Second ine isnot a gu substrate or the phosphate fms that ae applied Stel shot ensure pantadheson Recently developed zincalloy oat ings and multilayer coatings offer co- Tutions to these problems. When pure zine is applied by the hotdip proces, Coating weights are typically between {andl 100 prams per Square meter Zinesiron ally canbe formed by hear treating the shet ater tis dipped in molten zine, During heat treatment, iron cffuses from the stel into the Zinc layer Because the ziniron alloy olfers better corrosion resistance, the Coating can be relatively light between 30 and 50 grams per square meter, When elecrogalvatizing used asthe coating proces, the high cost of lee: tricity makes zinc’ platings of over 30 rams per square meter economically Iimpractical. Thinner ally platings a low the necessary corrosion resistance tobe achieved at reasonable cost. Typ Cal aloy platings ae zinc nickel eth ® nickel content of between Tl and 13 petcend and sinc.iron (with an iron Eaten of about 15 percent) "The second problem with zine coat ings requires some explanation, Before aute-boly panels painted, they are Covered with a phosphate him, whore purpose isto ensure paint adhesion When phosphate is deposited on naked steel, Phosphophylite crystals iFezng PO)! » AFLO} foe. By con teast hopeite crystals (2my (PO) LOL form on sine or aineich sub strates. The phosphophylite hme strate that soaks up paint. By con trast, hopelte films fend to have a rough monphology wth nevdllike sans, an this state leds to pr Crpaint adhesion Theclemical properties ofthe phos: plate hme als cite: When an auto feud panel spine, the hase coats applied by electrostatic deposition from a solution. Because the paint is, present as a cation, the solution is very alkaline. (The pHs typically about 12.) Hopeite phosphate films tend to dis- solve in the alkaline solution before the paint has a chance to deposit. Phos- phophylite films are more stable un- ler these conditions. Because it is preferable to deposit the phosphate film on a substrate with, alow zine content, the zinc or zine-rich alloy coatings are often covered with a thin coating of an iron-rich zinc alloy or with an iron film containing a small amount of phosphorus for activation, Recently some automakers who use steel sheet with zine or zinc-rich coat- ings have developed a special phos- phate solution containing a small amount of manganese or nickel that tends to produce a fine-grained film, Others continue to use double-coated steel sheets, however. Conclusion As this article demonstrates, the manu- facture of automotive steels requires a high level of technology and careful attention to detail, from the refining step through the final processes of an- nealing and skinpass rolling. These technologies are supported by the broad range of basic sciences (physics, chemistry and especially the study of thermodynamics and kinetics) needed to understand all the phases and states of matter and their relationships. The industry requires also a very wide range of engineering knowledge and experience, integrating metallurgy, me- chanics, electricity, transportation, in- strumentation and computer control The steel industry today is still a giant capable of producing and treating mas- sive products; but itis a giant with an intelligent mind and sensitive hands, capable of handling things on the scales of microns and parts per million, The analogy with the integrated: cuit industry is not rhetorical. Some ‘might think that making integrated ci cuits would require technology superi- or to that of steelmaking, but such views are born of ignorance and short sightedness. Steelmaking has the repu: tation of being a hot, dirty business, but to meet the quality standards cus- tomers now impose, even dust must be eliminated. Despite the enormous size of the equipment, some processing, steps are now conducted in controlled environments that meet the “sem clean-room” standards of the semicon- ductor industry. Henry Be would be astonished. Bibliography Furukawa, Kusuo, ea 1989. Development of Tigh image cary sto! sheet, LASER ROR. Kawasaki Steet Technical Report No 20. une: p03. Tokyor Kawasaki lea! Cor. poration Toyama, Seige 1988. Prediction and prover tion system fr sticking type Beat incon tinuous ating In Volume, tating fron Press, p97 Warped, PAS Ion and Stel Society Amencan Insitute of Min ing, Metallugcal and Petroleum Engines (Ohashi, Nobuo, 1888, Continuous annealing of ‘eel shoot. In Supplement Series, Volume 1 ‘of Envelopes for Matera Scone Eg rere. RW. Cahn, Oxford, UK Peng tho Press (Ohashi, Nobuo. 1985, Modemization for man factoring of sheet steel products: In Pred ings of the 10h Ara Moston cs Contence Intestinal ro So fst, Brees teratoma on & See itt og Yasuhiro. 1980. Recent trends and future tasks in ironmuking and steelmaking In Vo tue 1 Peastings the Sith terion and Stel Canggnss 7. Toke lo Stel I State of pan “pens Fee” Danie, You miss 4 Few Howes -wD Tose Ne Lene CN 0 ta Tene Boe M2 Nocember-Davember 154