THE ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE

Group 4
 CONTENT
1.Introduction
2.Working principle
3.Construction or design of electric arc
furnace
4.Operation
5.Chemical and physical processes in an EAF
6.Advantages
7.disadvantages
8.References
 1. INTRODUCTION

•An Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is a furnace

that heats charged material by means of an
electric arc. Loading…
2 types
1. Direct Electric Arc Furnace
2. Indirect Electric Arc Furnace
 2. WORKING PRINCIPLE

•1. Direct Electric Arc Furnace (mostly

used)
●The arc is struck between the electrode and the
charge.
● Three electrodes made of carbon or graphite are
projected from the top of the furnace and three
phase supply is given.
●The current passes through them via the charge.
2. Indirect Electric Arc Furnace
●The arc is formed between the two electrodes
and heat produced is transmitted to the charge by
radiation.
●The temperature is Loading…
lower than direct arc furnace.
• suitable for melting metals having lower melting points
e.g. nonferrous metals such as brass, copper, zinc etc.
 3. CONSTRUCTION OR DESIGN OF
ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
•The furnace consists of the following main
parts:
i. Spherical hearth (bottom)
ii. Cylindrical shell
iii. Swinging water-cooled dome-shaped roof
iiii. Graphite electrodes
3. CONSTRUCTION OR DESIGN
OF ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
3. CONSTRUCTION OR DESIGN
OF ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
i. Hearth
• This contains metal and slag. The hearth lining consists of backing
lining and working lining. The backing lining is few layers of high
fired magnesite bricks on which working lining is rammed with either
dolomite or magnesite mass
ii. Side walls or Cylindrical shell
• The side walls refractory materials should be able to withstand thermal
shock and corrosive action of slag.
• This wall is lined with magnesite, dolomite or chrome magnesite
bricks up to the slag line.
 3. CONSTRUCTION CONT..
i. The Roof
•High alumina bricks and magnesite-chromite bricks are
used for roof lining
•The roof lining is water cooled which increases the life of
refractory lining at least 10-20 times more than without
water cooling
•The roof has three holes to allow insertion of the electrodes
 3. CONSTRUCTION CONT..
i. Electrodes
•A typical direct current operated EAF has three
electrodes.
•Graphite electrodes are preferred over carbon
electrodes because of better electrical conductivity.
•The electrodes are automatically raised and lowered by
a positioning system
 4. OPERATION
The electric arc furnace operates as a batch melting process
producing batches of molten steel known as "heats". The
electric arc furnace operating cycle is called the tap-to-tap
cycle and is made up of the following operations:
● Furnace charging Loading…
● Melting
● Refining
● De-slagging
● Tapping
● Furnace turn-around
 4. OPERATION

CHARGING
●The roof and electrodes are raised and are swung to the side of
the furnace to allow the scrap charging crane to move a full
bucket(clam shell ) of scrap into place over the furnace.
●The roof and electrodes swing back into place over the
furnace. The roof is lowered and then the electrodes are
lowered to strike an arc on the scrap. This commences the
melting portion of the cycle
 4. OPERATION
Melting
● The melting period is the heart of EAF operations.
● The Melting process starts at a low voltage (short arc)
between the electrodes and the scrap.
● The arc during this period is unstable. In order to improve
the arc stability small pieces of the scrap are placed in the
upper layer of the charge. The electrodes descend melting
the charge and penetrating into the scrap forming bores.
 4. OPERATION
Refining
● Refining operations in the electric arc furnace
have traditionally involved the removal of
phosphorus, sulfur, aluminum, silicon,
manganese and carbon from the steel.
● Most of the compounds which are to be removed
during refining have a higher affinity for oxygen
that the carbon.
● Thus the oxygen will preferentially react with
these elements to form oxides which float out of
 4. OPERATION
De-slagging
● De-slagging operations are carried out to remove
impurities from the furnace. During melting and refining
operations, some of the undesirable materials within the
bath are oxidized and enter the slag phase.
● The furnace is tilted backwards and slag is poured out of
the furnace through the slag door. Removal of the slag
eliminates the possibility of phosphorus reversion
 4. OPERATION
Tapping
● Once the desired steel composition and temperature are
achieved in the furnace, the tap-hole is opened, the furnace
is tilted, and the steel pours into a ladle for transfer to the
next batch operation (usually a ladle furnace or ladle
station).

● During the tapping process bulk alloy additions are made

based on the bath analysis and the desired steel grade. De-
oxidizers may be added to the steel to lower the oxygen
content prior to further processing. This is commonly
referred to as "blocking the heat“ or "killing the steel".
 4. OPERATION

Furnace Turn-Around
● Furnace turn-around is the period following completion of tapping
until the furnace is recharged for the next heat.
● During this period, the electrodes and roof are raised and the
furnace lining is inspected for refractory damage. If necessary,
repairs are made to the hearth, slag-line, tap-hole and spout.
● In the case of a bottom-tapping furnace, the top-hole is filled with
sand.
5. CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES
IN AN EAF
 6. ADVANTAGES
● One benefit is flexibility: EAFs can be rapidly started
and stopped, allowing the steel mill to vary production
according to demand.
●Although steelmaking arc furnaces generally use
scraps steel as their primary feedstock, if hot metal
from a blast furnace or direct-reduced iron is available
economically, these can also be used as furnace feed
 7. DISADVANTAGES
Although the modern electric arc furnace is a highly efficient
recycler of steel scrap, operation of an arc furnace shop can
have adverse environmental effects. Much of the capital cost of
a new installation will be devoted to systems intended to
reduce these effects, which include:
i. Enclosures to reduce high sound levels
ii. Dust collector for furnace off-gas
iii. Slag production
iiii. Cooling water demand
 8. REFERENCES
1. Substech substances and technologies- The Electric
arc furnace (1987), Pri-metals Ltd.
2. The Electric arc Furnace, Gulfam Hussain (2007)
3. Electric arc furnace By Mukeshi J Choudhari (2001)
4. State-of-the-art solution for the fully optimized EAF
production (1994), Pri-metals technologies EAF
automation.
 GROUP MEMBERS

1. KINGSLEY POSIYANO
2. KHALID KAMPANJE
3. TAMIM CHIPALA
4. ANYOSHISHE CHIONA