Secondary Metallurgy

Ladle furnaces are increasingly being installed in basic oxygen plants as well as in electric arc furnace melt shops. INTECO offers solutions for every ladle furnace application. Due to its tailor made design INTECO’s ladle furnaces will fit even the tightest space requirements and fulfill both the requirements of special steel plants with long and intensive metallurgical treatments as well as high performance, short time treatment cycles in BOF steel plants. In any case special attention is paid to easy and low maintenance requirements in order to guarantee a long and trouble free operation.

 Variations

• Single or twin stand (with swivelling portal)
• Heat sizes from 6 to 300t
• Different roof designs available (pipe-to-pipe, flat inner surface)
• Standard or hanging portal system
• Ladle transfer car with optional tilting stool and weighing device
• Designed with gas or electromagnetic stirring system
• For steel plants, foundries and ferroalloys plants

 USP‘s of INTECO Design

• Furnace roof with flat inner surface (steel plates or copper plated)
• Fast exchangeable guide blocks
• Automatic gas coupling system
• ISEC electrode controller
• Easy access and maintenance
• All auxiliary equipment out of one hand

The VD system is one of the widest used degassing systems in commercial use. In that system a ladle is placed in a vacuum tank and sealed with a vacuum cover for an operation under vacuum conditions. The ladle has to be equipped with a porous plug for inert gas stirring. Vacuum will be created by the steam ejector- or mechanical vacuum pumps. During the vacuum treatment carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen can be reduced in various steps depending on the melt conditions. Additionally, the VD system can be equipped with vacuum alloy hoppers so that an analysis correction and adjustment can be executed during vacuum treatment. Advantages of this system include good homogenization as well as higher alloys yields.

By VOD treatment very low carbon contents and high chromium yield can be achieved by oxygen blowing during vacuum operation. Most production programs nowadays require a combination of VD and VOD operation. For that purpose the equipment can be designed for both types of operations.

Altogether, the VD-VOD - treatment offers the following process advantages:

• Utilization of cheaper materials of high carbon content (charge chrome)
• Decrease of production costs
• Increase of quality
• Possibility of production of ELC qualities with a minimum of chromium loss
• Attaining of tight analysis tolerances
• Better yield of chromium

 Variations

• Single or twin operation stand
• Heat sizes up to 350t
• Steam ejector vacuum pumps
• Dry mechanical vacuum pumps
• Alloying under vacuum conditions

 USP‘s of INTECO Design

• VOD-ladle cover with flat inner surface (steel plates or copper plated)
• Automatic gas coupling system 
• Wire feeding machines
• All auxiliary equipment out of one hand

Since the introduction of RH (Ruhrstahl Heraeus) degassing technology in the late 50’s, the RH-degassing process became an important operation in modern steel plants. Over the years the RH-process was continuously developed to satisfy the steel producers demand. In the early days of RH-degassing the target was to achieve a low hydrogen level in the liquid steel.

Nowadays the RH-degasser is mainly used for the production of low and ultra-low carbon steel grades as well as hydrogen removal. The RH-degassing process has proven its eminent suitability for operations requiring short tap-to-tap times with heat sizes of up to 400t.

The particular features of the RH recirculation degassing process include:

• Favorable degassing conditions due to lift-gas kinetic
• A high analysis hitting rate
• Lower temperature losses
• Continuous process sequence during vacuum treatment and alloy addition
• No additional freeboard required
• Reproducible metallurgical results

which has led to the following results:

• Short treatment time
• Improved economy
• Vacuum degassing and vacuum deoxidation
• Decarburization to very low levels
• Alloy addition of e.g. large amounts of Silicon for the production of electrical sheets
• Homogenization of the melt
• Alloy trimming

 Variations

• Single or twin operation stand
• RH-vessel fast exchange system
• Steam ejector vacuum pumps as well as mechanical vacuum pumps

  USP‘s of INTECO Design

• Variable ladle / vessel lifting systems
• TOP-burner & O2-blowing lance system
• Variable dust separating / cooling system