Abstract:The history of steelmaking was backtracked and reviewed. The steelmaking has been performed for over 170 years since the 1850s,from Bessemer steelmaking process to open hearth steelmaking process,oxygen steelmaking process and electric arc furnace steelmaking. In 1850s,Bessemer invented the bottom air-blowing acid steelmaking process by which the air was injected into a bottom chamber of the converter and then entered into the molten steel through the porous bricks,and this technology was not able to dephosphorize the steel. In 1870s,Thomas invented the bottom air-blowing basic steelmaking process which could dephosphorize the steel after decarburization. In 1860s Siemens and Martin invented the open hearth steelmaking process,which achieved the dephosphorization before decarburization and the decarburization was through the iron ore powders. By this technology,the slag was over the molten metal,the nitrogen in the final steel was low and steel scraps could be used. The furnace could be as big as several hundred tons so that the Bessemer steel process was fully replaced by the open hearth steelmaking in 1900s. In 1949,Professor Durrer successfully performed the top blowing oxygen steelmaking experiments,and stimulated the Linz Works and Donawitz Works in Austria to start the industrial scale practice of oxygen steelmaking in 1952 so that this process was called LD process. This technology was well spread in western countries and was called basic oxygen steelmaking process-BOF process in the US. Oxygen steelmaking process fully replaced the open hearth steelmaking process in western countries in 1990s. The oxygen bottom blowing steelmaking process and the top and bottom combined blowing steelmaking process were started from 1960s and gradually well utilized. Siemens built the first electric arc furnace for the experiments of scrap remelting in 1870s and the first three phase Heroult electric arc furnace for industrial steelmaking was started in the US in 1900s. The induction furnace for the remelting of steel scraps and alloys was started in 1800s,and the vacuum induction furnace was commercially used in 1920s. The modern steelmaking technology in China was very late. In 1949,the steel production capacity was less than 160 thousand tons. The first top oxygen blowing steelmaking furnace was built at Shougang Steel in 1964. The steelmaking ability and technology was under a great-leap-forward development within the past 30 years and the annual crude steel production capacity was over one billion tons and over 50% of the entire world. China is stepping in a strong steel country from a big steel country.
张立峰. 炼钢技术的发展历程和未来展望(Ⅰ)——炼钢技术的发展历程[J]. 钢铁, 2022, 57(12): 1-12.
ZHANG Li-feng. Development history and future prospects of steelmaking(Ⅰ)——Development history[J]. Iron and Steel, 2022, 57(12): 1-12.
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