Raw Materials and Ironmaking

The Raw Materials & Ironmaking Section helps blast furnace operations, coke plants, and raw material manufacturing plants to solve technical and operating problems. In addition, Division personnel conduct laboratory evaluations of raw materials and refractories and guide their most effective application in iron and steelmaking processes.

The Raw Materials, Cokemaking & Waste Utilization Group provides on site technical assistance to U. S. Steel coke plants on coal preparation, coke battery operations, and environmental problems. This group has participated in the development and operation of an automatic coal bulk density control system, measurement of coking pressures, installation and operation of coke temperature instrumentation, and the resolution of coke moisture discrepancies.

This group provides assistance in the selection of raw materials for U. S. Steel raw material manufacturing plants, blast furnaces, and steel shops. This is achieved through laboratory evaluation of the chemical, physical, and metallurgical characteristics of candidate burden materials and through pilot sinter testing of candidate sinter plant materials. Technical support is given to the Minntac iron ore pellet plant for the purpose of improving product cost and quality, to raw materials to promote the external sales of Minntac pellets, and to blast furnace departments on raw material related problems. This group also develops and helps to implement means to maximize the recycle and reuse of steel plant by-products to increase the recovery of valuable iron, carbon, and flux units and minimize disposal costs and residual environmental liability.

A primary objective of the Ironmaking Group is to provide timely on site technical assistance to U. S. Steel blast furnace operations. This effort includes characterizing operation and burden practices along with material and energy balances for each of the furnaces. The analysis of operating trends, strong technical knowledge, awareness of current literature, and considerable operating experience, are used to work with operating departments to reduce costs and optimize productivity.

Technical support is also given to solve operation problems such as those associated with liquid iron containment and flow. This group performs full and pilot scale burden distribution tests and furnace filling tests prior to blow in; in order to make recommendations concerning furnace charging practices and stockline operation. The Ironmaking Group is cognizant of new ironmaking practices that may enhance or replace the blast furnace as the most cost effective process to mass produce iron.

Steelmaking & Casting

The Steelmaking & Casting Section provides technical assistance to plant operations extending from hot metal treatment to finished slabs. This group is closely involved with projects aimed at improvements to productivity, quality, and the cost of making liquid steel at the right temperature, chemistry, and cleanliness followed by all aspects of converting the liquid steel into slabs. As a technology gatekeeper, this group identifies opportunities, evaluates technologies, makes recommendations, and assists in the implementation of new processes.

This section usually works hand in hand with U. S. Steel Plant Operations, Quality Assurance and Process Control on a project basis. While most of the projects are on site in the plant, certain projects require laboratory studies simultaneously with an intention to transfer the knowledge and technologies to the plant operations. Typical responsibilities of the Steelmaking and Casting Section are development of process models to control/enhance processes, achieve energy/mass balances at minimal costs, increase process capabilities with new technologies, improve process consistency for product quality and higher efficiencies. More specific examples are yield/cost improvements through practice modifications on charge mix control, lance practices, flux practices, tapping, ladle treatments, casting temperatures and speeds; efficiency and capability improvements by new technologies such as sublance, oxygen lance in degasser and low nitrogen gas applications and coherent jet lance; cost reductions through slag conditioning, calcium treatment and mold flux modifications; quality initiatives on steel cleanliness, minimization of stresses in slabs and variations in slab dimensions. In addition, some intermediate to long term tasks are front-end strategic planning, thermochemical modeling and mold simulations. Moreover, competitive analysis of the processes and costs provides information on the operations of different aspects of steelmaking, which is useful in the selection of new technologies.

Materials Technology & Modeling

The Materials Technology and Modeling Section has responsibility for both metallic and refractory materials failure analysis, material qualifications, and specific application recommendations, as well as the in-process modeling and engineering to support research activities in all ironmaking, steelmaking, casting, rolling, and sheet finishing operations. The primary objective of the section is to provide on site multidisciplinary approaches to plant specific problems and to communicate and assist to implement these solutions to all facilities.

The main responsibility of the Materials Technology Group, is to ensure that the materials used in plant equipment to manufacture steel products perform reliably. This involves the proper selection, design, repair, and maintenance of all U. S. Steel equipment. The Materials Technology Group assists suppliers, as well as Engineering, Operating, Quality Assurance, Purchasing, and Safety Departments to achieve reliable and safe performance and is often called upon by the Law Department and Purchasing to protect the interests of the Corporation. The personnel in this group maintain a diverse set of skills including optical and electron microscopy, welding engineering, fracture mechanics, mechanical testing, nondestructive testing and principals of both metallurgical and ceramic engineering.

The main responsibility of the Modeling Group is to conduct both stress and thermal computational modeling of plant operations to analyze the behavior of a particular material or predict the interaction of a group of materials, such as metallic and ceramic systems. In addition, complex fluid dynamics are modeled using the latest available software running on state of the art computers. Some specific projects of the Modeling Group include: flow modeling experiments to study continuous caster tundish and pouring tube designs; technical assistance to the plants in developing cost effective refractory systems for ladles; modeling both the steel and refractory systems within degasser vessels; and producing and maintaining blast furnace heat transfer hearth models.