86 / 108
Furnaces
and
heat treatment
The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) is basic by name
and by nature – even if it was named for the magnesia
refractory lining, which wears through contact with
hot (basic) slags. The process dominated by this
furnace accounts for 60 per cent of crude steel output
worldwide. And wherever BOF steelmaking is not on
the rise, electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking is.
The constant in both methods is the furnace:
indispensable to all steel making and central to every
initiative toward more reliable and cost-efficient
production and heat treatment.
Operators in either of the two major technologies know
that 100 per cent reliability of the furnace or caster is
key to the pour. The companies featured in this section
of
Tube and Pipe Technology
know it, too.
They are in the business of leveraging that awareness
to ensure improved yields, enhanced quality, and
greater productivity all the time.
Furnaces
and
heat treatment
Photo: Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd, UK