GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC, NANDED

MICRO PROJECT
Academic year 2018-19

TITLE OF THE PROJECT

PREPARATION OF STEEL FROM PIG IRON

SUBJECT: CHEMISTRY
Guided by: Dr. S. V. BETTIGERI
Name of the students: ROLL NO Enrollment no.
1) Omkar Digambar Sonone
2) Surendra Sharad Some
3) Gajanan Namdev Suryawanshi
4) Kunal Laxmansingh Thakur
5) Avinash Jagananath Tompe
Steel
Steel is both the most widely used and most recycled metal material on
earth. From stainless and high-temperature steels to flat carbon products,
steel in its various forms and alloys offer different properties to meet a
wide range of applications. For these reasons, as well as the metal's
combination of high strength and a relatively low production cost, steel
is now used in countless products.

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements.

Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, it is a major component
used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines,
appliances, and weapons.

Iron is the base metal of steel. Iron is able to take on two crystalline
forms (allotropic forms), body centered cubic and face centered cubic,
depending on its temperature. In the body-centered cubic arrangement,
there is an iron atom in the center and eight atoms at the vertices of each
cubic unit cell; in the face-centered cubic, there is one atom at the center
of each of the six faces of the cubic unit cell and eight atoms at its
vertices. It is the interaction of the allotropes of iron with the alloying
elements, primarily carbon, that gives steel and cast iron their range of
unique properties.

In pure iron, the crystal structure has relatively little resistance to the
iron atoms slipping past one another, and so pure iron is quite ductile, or
soft and easily formed. In steel, small amounts of carbon, other
elements, and inclusions within the iron act as hardening agents that
prevent the movement of dislocations that are common in the crystal
lattices of iron atoms.

The carbon in typical steel alloys may contribute up to 2.14% of its

weight. Varying the amount of carbon and many other alloying
elements, as well as controlling their chemical and physical makeup in
the final steel (either as solute elements, or as precipitated phases), slows
the movement of those dislocations that make pure iron ductile, and thus
controls and enhances its qualities. These qualities include such things as
the hardness, quenching behavior, need for annealing, tempering
behavior, yield strength, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. The
increase in steel's strength compared to pure iron is possible only by
reducing iron's ductility.

Steel was produced in bloomery furnaces for thousands of years, but its
large-scale, industrial use began only after more efficient production
methods were devised in the 17th century, with the production of blister
steel and then crucible steel. With the invention of the Bessemer process
in the mid-19th century, a new era of mass-produced steel began. This
was followed by the Siemens–Martin process and then the Gilchrist–
Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their
introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron.

Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking

(BOS), largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of
production and increasing the quality of the final product. Today, steel is
one of the most common manmade materials in the world, with more
than 1.6 billion tons produced annually. Modern steel is generally
identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations.
.
Steels and other iron–carbon alloy phases

 Ferrite
 Austenite
 Cementite
 Graphite
 Martensite

Microstructures
 Spheroidite
 Pearlite
 Bainite
 Ledeburite
 Tempered martensite
 Widmanstatten structures

Classes
 Crucible steel
 Carbon steel
 Spring steel
 Alloy steel
 Maraging steel
 Stainless steel
 Weathering steel
 Tool steel

Other iron-based materials

  Cast iron
 Gray iron
 White iron
 Ductile iron
 Malleable iron
 Wrought iron

The steel cable of a colliery winding tower

Pig iron

Pig iron of a type used to make ductile iron, stored in a bin

Pig iron is an intermediate product of the iron industry, also known as

crude iron, which is first obtained from a smelting furnace in the form of
oblong blocks. Pig iron has a very high carbon content, typically 3.8–
4.7%, along with silica and other constituents of dross, which makes it
very brittle and not useful directly as a material except for limited
applications. Pig iron is made by smelting iron ore into a transportable
ingot of impure high carbon-content iron in a blast furnace as an
ingredient for further processing steps. The traditional shape of the
molds used for pig iron ingots was a branching structure formed in sand,
with many individual ingots at right angles to a central channel or
runner, resembling a litter of piglets being suckled by a sow. When the
metal had cooled and hardened, the smaller ingots (the pigs) were
simply broken from the runner (the sow), hence the name pig iron. As
pig iron is intended for remolding, the uneven size of the ingots and the
inclusion of small amounts of sand caused only insignificant problems
considering the ease of casting and handling them.
Steelmaking

Steel mill with two arc furnaces

Steelmaking is the process for producing steel from iron ore and scrap.
In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur
and excess carbon are removed from the raw iron, and alloying elements
such as manganese, nickel, chromium and vanadium are added to
produce different grades of steel. Limiting dissolved gases such as
nitrogen and oxygen, and entrained impurities (termed "inclusions") in
the steel is also important to ensure the quality of the products cast from
the liquid steel.

Steelmaking has existed for millennia, but it was not commercialized on

a massive scale until the 19th century. The ancient craft process of
steelmaking was the crucible process. In the 1850s and 1860s, the
Bessemer process and the Siemens-Martin process turned steelmaking
into a heavy industry. Today there are two major commercial processes
for making steel, namely basic oxygen steelmaking, which has liquid
pig-iron from the blast furnace and scrap steel as the main feed
materials, and electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, which uses scrap
steel or direct reduced iron (DRI) as the main feed materials. Oxygen
steelmaking is fuelled predominantly by the exothermic nature of the
reactions inside the vessel; in contrast, in EAF steelmaking, electrical
energy is used to melt the solid scrap and/or DRI materials. In recent
times, EAF steelmaking technology has evolved closer to oxygen
steelmaking as more chemical energy is introduced into the process.
Modern processes
Modern steelmaking processes can be divided into two categories:
Primary and Secondary steelmaking. Primary steelmaking involves
converting liquid iron from a blast furnace and steel scrap into steel via
basic oxygen steelmaking, or melting scrap steel or direct reduced iron
(DRI) in an electric arc furnace. Secondary steelmaking involves
refining of the crude steel before casting and the various operations are
normally carried out in ladles. In secondary metallurgy, alloying agents
are added, dissolved gases in the steel are lowered, and inclusions are
removed or altered chemically to ensure that high-quality steel is
produced after casting.

Primary steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking is a method of primary steelmaking in which
carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowing oxygen through
molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it
into steel. The process is known as basic due to the chemical nature of
the refractoriness—calcium oxide and magnesium oxide—that line the
vessel to withstand the high temperature and corrosive nature of the
molten metal and slag in the vessel. The slag chemistry of the process is
also controlled to ensure that impurities such as silicon and phosphorus
are removed from the metal.

The process was developed in 1948 by Robert Durrer and

commercialized in 1952–53 by Austrian VOEST and ÖAMG. The LD
converter, named after the Austrian towns of Linz and Donawitz (a
district of Leoben) is a refined version of the Bessemer converter where
blowing of air is replaced with blowing oxygen. It reduced capital cost
of the plants, time of smelting, and increased labor productivity.
Between 1920 and 2000, labour requirements in the industry decreased
by a factor of 1,000, from more than 3 worker-hours per tonne to just
0.003. The vast majority of steel manufactured in the world is produced
using the basic oxygen furnace; in 2011, it accounted for 70% of global
steel output. Modern furnaces will take a charge of iron of up to 350 tons
and convert it into steel in less than 40 minutes, compared to 10–12
hours in an open hearth furnace.

Electric arc furnace steelmaking is the manufacture of steel from scrap

or direct reduced iron melted by electric arcs. In an electric arc furnace,
a batch of steel ("heat") may be started by loading scrap or direct
reduced iron into the furnace, sometimes with a "hot heel" (molten steel
from a previous heat). Gas burners may be used to assist with the melt
down of the scrap pile in the furnace. As in basic oxygen steelmaking,
fluxes are also added to protect the lining of the vessel and help improve
the removal of impurities. Electric arc furnace steelmaking typically
uses furnaces of capacity around 100 tonnes that produce steel every 40
to 50 minutes for further processing.

By-product gases from the steel making process can be used to generate
electricity through the use of reciprocating gas engines/gas turbines.
These green house gases are produced by burning fossil fuels
contributing to global warming.

Secondary steelmaking
Secondary steelmaking is most commonly performed in ladles. Some of
the operations performed in ladles include de-oxidation (or "killing"),
vacuum degassing, alloy addition, inclusion removal, inclusion
chemistry modification, de-sulphurisation, and homogenisation. It is
now common to perform ladle metallurgical operations in gas-stirred
ladles with electric arc heating in the lid of the furnace. Tight control of
ladle metallurgy is associated with producing high grades of steel in
which the tolerances in chemistry and consistency are narrow.
Applications of steel
Steel applications can be divided into five sectors:

1. Construction
2. Transport
3. Energy
4. Packaging
5. Appliances and Industry

Construction

The majority of steel goes to the construction industry. Sustainable steel

structures can be built quickly at a low price. Steel, in its various forms
and alloys, can be designed to meet the requirements of unique projects,
which allow it to be incorporated into infrastructure in all environments.
Depending on the conditions that the structure is exposed to, steel can be
alloyed or surface treated differently for protection.

The development of efficient steel production techniques at the end of

the 20th century contributed to the growth of railways around the world
as well as the advent of the high-rise building. Many famous historical
structures, such as the Empire State Building, contain steel as a primary
construction material.

Steel can also be found in:

 low and high-rise buildings

 education and hospital buildings
 sports stadiums, stations
 reinforced concrete
 bridge deck plates
 piers and suspension cables
  harbors
 cladding and roofing
 offices
 tunnels
 security fencing
 coastal and flood defenses

Transport
Engineering steels are wrought steels that are designed to have certain
specific levels of elasticity, strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance.
They are used in the general engineering and manufacturing sectors, but
the bulk goes to transport vehicles.

Steel accounts for over 50% the weight of an average car. Advanced
high-strength steels (AHSS) are used in vehicles. It is a lightweight
material that requires less energy to produce and reduces CO2
emissions.

Different types of steel are used for the car body, doors, engine, gearbox,
steering, suspension, wheel axles, and interior.

Besides the automotive market, steel is found in transport materials such

as:

 trucks
 transmissions
 trains
 rails
 ships
 anchor chains
 aircraft undercarriages
 jet engines components
Energy
All segments of the energy sector, including nuclear, wind power,
electric and natural gas, demand steel for infrastructure. Steel is also
used for resource extraction, such as in offshore platforms, earth-moving
and quarrying equipment, cranes, and forklifts. Due to the demanding
environments, carbon, micro-alloyed, high strength and stainless steels
are all used in the production of offshore platforms and pipelines.

In addition to these, many other energy projects rely on large amounts of

steel:

 oil and gas wells and platforms

 pipelines
 electricity power turbine components
 electricity pylons
 wind turbines
 transmission towers
 electromagnets
 transformer cores
 electromagnetic shields

Packaging
Steel packaging protects goods from water, air, and light exposure, and
is fully recyclable. This method of storage has been around for over 200
years.

Steel allows for high-speed filling and lightweight, easy to open

packaging. Packaging steels are often made from low carbon cold-rolled
steel strip and are surface finished. The steel is tin plated to prevent
corrosion and then coated with a polymer, lacquered, and printed. The
majority of steel packaging goes towards food and beverage container,
followed by a general line, aerosols, and closures (e.g., bottle caps).
Appliances and Industry
About 75% of the weight of typical household appliances comes from
steel. Steel is found in appliances like fridges, washing machines, ovens,
microwaves, sinks, cutlery, etc.

Steel also accounts for many industrial goods like farm vehicles and
machinery, storage tanks, tools, structures, walkways, and protective
equipment.

References

http://www.steeluniversity.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_iron

http://www.steel.org