Abstract
In a 30‐t ladle furnace equipped with three A.C. transferred arc‐plasma torches for a power input of 6 MW, the influence of argon plasma heating on the chemical composition of a number of steel grades from carbon to chromium‐nickel steels was investigated. The concentrations of carbon, manganese, chromium and nickel remained virtually constant even for extra‐long heating periods of 2 hours. Silicon melting loss was appr. 0.03%/h, comparable to conventional ladle furnaces. Nitrogen pickup proved to be negligibly small, although the N2 partial pressure in the furnace was about 0.5 bar. Since the slag is well heated up by the plasma flames, a metal desulphurization is noticed, the extent of which depends on the basicity of the slag. At the slag/gas interface, equilibrium is established with the slightly oxidizing furnace atmosphere, leading to sulphur transfer from slag to gas via SO2.
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