India Usa Trade Relation
Introduction
1.1 Steel Manufacturing Process
Steel production involves several processing stages including iron making, primary and secondary steel making, casting and hot rolling. These are followed by some of the following fabrication processes: cold rolling, forming, forging, joining, machining, coating and/or heat treatment.
Steels can be made either from raw materials (e.g. iron ore, coal and limestone) or by recycling steel scrap.
In response to the requirements of society, steel processing is subject to significant innovation in order to reduce costs, improve quality and to minimize its environmental impacts.
These complex processes produce a wide variety of steel compositions, in many different shapes and sizes, each tailored closely to the requirements of the use of the steel.
Iron making
Iron ore, coke and lime are the raw materials fed into the blast furnace to produce liquid iron (often called 'hot metal '). The iron that emerges from the blast furnace contains 4-4.5 wt% carbon and other impurities which make the metal too brittle for most engineering applications.
Steel making
The Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) process takes this liquid iron plus recycled scrap steel, and reduces the carbon content to between 0 and 1.5% by blowing oxygen through the metal in a converter to produce molten steel. Alternatively, the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is used to remelt scrap iron and steel.
Secondary steel making processes are then applied to make fine adjustments to the steel composition, temperature and cleanness.
Casting
The steel is then continuously cast into solid slabs, blooms or billets. Continuous casting has largely replaced traditional ingot casting.
Primary Forming
Primary forming operations, such as hot rolling are those which are applied to continuous cast slabs, blooms and billets (and to traditional ingots). The main purpose is usually to achieve large shape changes, rather than to develop the steel properties,
1.1 Steel Manufacturing Process
Steel production involves several processing stages including iron making, primary and secondary steel making, casting and hot rolling. These are followed by some of the following fabrication processes: cold rolling, forming, forging, joining, machining, coating and/or heat treatment.
Steels can be made either from raw materials (e.g. iron ore, coal and limestone) or by recycling steel scrap.
In response to the requirements of society, steel processing is subject to significant innovation in order to reduce costs, improve quality and to minimize its environmental impacts.
These complex processes produce a wide variety of steel compositions, in many different shapes and sizes, each tailored closely to the requirements of the use of the steel.
Iron making
Iron ore, coke and lime are the raw materials fed into the blast furnace to produce liquid iron (often called 'hot metal '). The iron that emerges from the blast furnace contains 4-4.5 wt% carbon and other impurities which make the metal too brittle for most engineering applications.
Steel making
The Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) process takes this liquid iron plus recycled scrap steel, and reduces the carbon content to between 0 and 1.5% by blowing oxygen through the metal in a converter to produce molten steel. Alternatively, the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is used to remelt scrap iron and steel.
Secondary steel making processes are then applied to make fine adjustments to the steel composition, temperature and cleanness.
Casting
The steel is then continuously cast into solid slabs, blooms or billets. Continuous casting has largely replaced traditional ingot casting.
Primary Forming
Primary forming operations, such as hot rolling are those which are applied to continuous cast slabs, blooms and billets (and to traditional ingots). The main purpose is usually to achieve large shape changes, rather than to develop the steel properties,
References: • Peter M.Fish, “The International Steel Trade”, McGrow Hill Book Co., New York. 1987. • Robert A. Blecker, “US Trade Policy & Global Growth”, Basil Blackwell & co., 1968. • Robert W. Crandall, “US Steel Industry in Recurrent Crises: Policy”, Prentice Hall Book Inc., New York, 1951. • Madan, BK, Aspect of Economic Development and Policy, Thacker Spink and co. Ltd. Calcutta, 1960. • “The Economics Times” (April 6, 2008).