Steel Forming Processes

The Iron Age, which began approximately 1200 BCE, is the era during which steel was discovered. The first iron ore was extracted in Central Asia and Europe, where iron was then employed in a process known as ferrous metallurgy to create tools and weapons. During this time, iron items developed, starting with wrought iron objects made by blacksmiths. These craftsmen learnt to melt iron ore, and blacksmiths would purge impurities from the metal using a hammer and anvil procedure to create a strong and pliable final iron product. The two main methods used to make steel nowadays are as follows:
Blast furnace: In the basic oxygen process (BOP), which also goes by the name of the blast furnace, raw iron ore and tiny quantities of steel scrap are heated together in a furnace. The furnace is then heated by being filled with pure oxygen. At this temperature, the iron's impurities are entirely oxidised and turn into a liquid, along with the scrap metal itself. In addition, the high temperature lowers the carbon concentration to the optimal level, producing liquid steel.

Electric arc furnaces: The electric arc furnace (EAF) method uses electrodes to create high-current electric arcs that melt a lot of steel scrap into liquid. The experts add more ferroalloys while the steel scrap metal is melting until the metal liquid has the correct proportion of steel to other alloys, such as chromium and nickel, which make stainless steel. Then, lime and fluorspar are added, and oxygen is blasted into the furnace to further purify the steel. Slag is created when these compounds mix with the impurities in the steel. The pure steel is then left behind when the slag floats to the top of the molten steel and is removed.