Steel Manufacturing Processes:

Continuous Casting:

The usual way of making ingots is to pour steel into molds and then to reheat these ingots and roll them into blooms, stales or billets. These three shapes of steel can also be ,made by a new process called continuous casting.

Molten steel is continuously poured into a water cooled mold that is open at the top and bottom. A starting bar temporarily closes the bottom. The steel gradually cools and begins to set solid in the mold. The the starting bar is slowly pulled downward, drawing the steel with it. The rate at which molten steel is poured into the top is matched with the rate at which the solid steel is pulled out at bottom.

In this way, a long continuous piece is formed. So, the process is called continuous casting. Steel formed can then be cut into length as desired.

The entire melt from the converter or ladle could be poured into one billet if desired. The billet could be cut into desired lengths while hot and the metal is rolled or formed into predetermined shapes.

Upon completion of conversion process, the steel can be made to desired type. The steel is sent to rolling mills while still red hot or can be formed after cooling.

These are some shapes into which the molted steel is formed:

Bars: Solid shapes that can be hot or cold rolled in rounds, squares or flats in size ranging from 3/4 to 12 inches thick.

Billets: A section of an ingot suitable for rolling

Blooms: A slab of steel or other metal of width generally equal to thickness

Plates: Large flat slabs thicker than 1/4 inch

Shapes: Can in the form of beams of several types, channels, angles.