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By John Ross Middleton

Based upon 30 years+ experience in the Development, Implementation and Ongoing Support of Computer based Melt Shop Management Systems in about 40 plants in the UK, Europe and the USA, consideration of the overall facilities of a state of the art, comprehensive, Integrated Melt Shop System covering Melting and Secondary processes for all grades of steels and superalloys; the scope of functionality of these systems, covering Raw Materials and Consumables Procurement and Inventory Management, Laboratory Management, Melt Shop Scheduling, Furnace Charge and Additions Optimisation, Level 1.5 to Level 2.5 Materials Optimisation and Process Control Calculations, Process Data Recording, Management of Ladles, Furnace Bodies, Vessels and Moulds, Comprehensive Management Reporting and Integration with Corporate ERP Systems. The second section of the paper reviews the key ‘Success Factors’ to achieve rapid, successful implementation, comprehensive, fast response user support, continuing system improvement and maintaining ‘perfect fit’ of system to operations in an ever changing future technical, operations and business environment.

Jul 29, 2018

By Ryoma Fujiyoshi

In this article, the technologies of highly durable MgO-C bricks for the scrap impact zone and bottom blowing tuyere of converters are demonstrated. On the bases of our recent investigations, wear of scrap impact zone and bottom tuyere are explainable in terms of crack initiation and propagation. Theoretically, crack propagation in brittle material is regarded as generation of new crack surface area. It occurs when the elastic strain energy stored in the material exceeds the energy required to generate a new crack surface area. Since the overall energy consumed for crack propagation until fracture is evaluated by fracture energy, materials exhibiting high fracture energy can be regarded as materials with high fracture resistance. Therefore, two fracture energy-improving technologies for MgO-C bricks were developed. One is matrix reinforcement and the other is carbon bond enhancement. These technologies were applied to bricks for the scrap impact zone and bottom tuyere. As a result of commercial applications, notable decreases in wear rates were recognized for high fracture energy materials for the scrap impact zone and bottom blowing tuyere of converters.

Oct 30, 2017

By Kenneth Williams

Economic drives dictate the exploitation of formerly less attractive ore bodies located close to or even beneath the water table. These ores can cause handling problems and expensive downtime of processing equipment due to their increased adhesive characteristics and are colloquially termed as “wet and sticky” ores. In order to gain a better understanding of the causes of poor handleability, experimental test methods for wall and inter-particle adhesion within bulk solids samples were developed and validated. The results confirmed that adhesion of bulk solid to equipment surfaces is mainly governed by capillary pressure. It can therefore be described using the Young-Laplace equation, which implies that adhesion is primarily dependent on the interfacial water between bulk material and the adhesion partner. Accordingly, the governing material parameters of adhesion are its capillarity and permeability, as these two characterize water transport to or from the interface of the adhesion partners. Furthermore a threshold for the classification of a material as wet and sticky based on the measurements of adhesion has been proposed.

Aug 17, 2017

By Cristiano José Scheuer

Experiments were carried out aiming to study the influence of micro-abrasive wear test variables and plasma treatment parameters, on the tribological characteristics of low-temperature plasma carburized AISI 420 steel. The first part of this study was conducted in order to evaluate the influence of abrasive particle size, normal load and counter body rotation speed on carburized sample wear behavior; and the second part was conducted in order to evaluate the treatment temperature and time effect on carburized samples wear behavior. Plasma carburizing treatments were performed at 8 and 12 h, for temperatures ranging from 350 to 500°C; and at constant temperatures of 400°C for times between 12 to 48h, and for 450°C for times of 4 to 16h. Micro-abrasive wear test were performed by mean of a calowear ball-cratering equipment using a polished ball of AISI 52100 steel rotating at 80, 120 and 160 rpm, for sliding distances from 2.6 to 104.2 m. Alumina abrasive particles with sizes of 0.05, 0.3 and 1.0 ?m were employed. The normal loads applied on this study were 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 N. Carburized sample was characterized by mean of OM, XRD and hardness measurements. Worn crater characteristics were evaluated by confocal laser microscopy. Results showed that the transient wear regime prevails along the outer layer length (composed by Fe3C and ?’C), and the steady-state wear stabilizes in the diffusion layer region (composed by ?’C). It was verified that the wear rate and wear coefficient decreases with treatment temperature in the range of 350–450°C and increase for 500°C. It was also verified that the wear rate and wear coefficient decreases with treatment time in the range of 12–36 h (for 400°C cycle) and 4–12 h (for 450°C cycle), and increase for larger treatment times due the chromium carbide precipitation. It was also found that the wear coefficient increases with the increase of abrasive particle size, and decrease with the increase in counter body rotation speed and normal load. Lastly, the analysis of the worn craters indicates the occurrence of grooving and micro-rolling abrasion wear mechanisms.

Aug 17, 2017

By Nei Bongiorni Alff de Freitas

O uso de velocidade de onda sônica tem ganhado espaço na estimativa de resistência à compressão uniaxial (UCS) por ser um método mais barato, rápido e não destrutivo em comparação com o método tradicional. No entanto, por ser uma correlação empírica, as equações de correlação geradas variam muito quanto a precisão e necessitam serem aferidas para cada nova localidade geológica estudada. Com o objetivo de alcançar correlações mais precisas, esse artigo utiliza um maior critério de seleção das amostras. Arenitos e conglomerados criteriosamente selecionados resultaram em uma forte correlação com R2=0,99. Dessa forma, se constatou que quanto mais específica for a litologia selecionada, melhor é a correlação obtida.

Oct 30, 2017

By Cameron Soltys, Hamid Ghorbani, Maher Al-Dojayli

Cooling staves in blast furnaces are used to minimize the process heat loads on steel shell and refractory system. Copper staves are exposed to significant fluctuating thermal loads which may lead to premature stave failures due to cracks, water leakage, bending, abrasion and resultant wear. In this paper, an assessment methodology is presented to evaluate the effect of thermal cycling on copper staves including bending, fatigue and thermal ratcheting. This approach incorporates temperature-dependent copper properties including creep and plasticity to more accurately capture inelastic deformations, damage and fatigue in staves under transient and cyclic thermal loading conditions. Root cause failure assessment and improvements to copper stave design can be assessed using the presented methodology.

Oct 1, 2019

By Andrew Slifka, Pello Uranga, Douglas Glenn Stalheim

Structural steel final mechanical properties of strength and ductility are predominately generated by the final ferrite grain size/packet size and homogeneity of that ferrite grain size/packet size through the cross-sectional area. Forty to seventy percent of the strength components come from how fine the final cross-sectional ferrite grain size/packet size that can be produced.[1] All the ductility properties of structural steels for a given microstructure are predominately driven by how fine AND homogenous the final cross-sectional ferrite grain size/packet size can be refined.[2,3,4] One key ductility property of structural steels used in construction and energy transmission applications is fatigue. Both low and high cycle fatigue can be realized in these end applications, however, low cycle fatigue is typically the predominate mechanism. In construction applications the environment for fatigue is typically air, such as in wind towers or high-rise building construction. In energy applications, there is an interest in high pressure (5.5 – 21 MPa, 800-3000 psi) gaseous hydrogen as an alternative fuel source to fossil fuels. A project to study the effect of the cross-sectional grain size/homogeneity of a relatively pure polygonal ferrite microstructure on the fatigue performance in air and high-pressure gaseous hydrogen has been developed. This paper will discuss the project strategy, microstructure developed for the project and initial test results.

Oct 1, 2019

By Henrique Dias Gatti Turrer

O projeto Minas-Rio da Anglo American iniciou suas operações em agosto de 2014 e tem capacidade para produção de 26,5 milhões de toneladas naturais por ano de pellet feed. O sistema contempla a exploração e concentração da jazida localizada no município de Conceição do Mato Dentro (MG), bombeamento do concentrado por 529 km até o município de São João da Barra (RJ), onde ocorrem a filtragem, estocagem e embarque do produto final através de navios. Desde a concepção do projeto até os dias de hoje, diversos estudos foram realizados objetivando-se entender o comportamento das diferentes litologias de minérios nas etapas de processamento mineral. Desses, os mais relevantes focaram nas duas principais litologias do depósito: o itabirito resultante da intemperização da matriz (IF) e o próprio saprólito (IT). Os principais pontos de investigação foram o comportamento dos mesmos perante as etapas de cominuição e concentração. O objetivo desse trabalho é apresentar uma revisão bibliográfica das diversas comparações de desempenho perante a cominuição dessas duas litologias. Além disso, são apresentados e discutidos resultados inéditos do desempenho na flotação quando concentrado separadamente ou como uma mistura. Os resultados disponíveis na literatura mostram que, ao contrário do que se imagina, o itabirito natural não apresenta consumo energético significativamente maior nas etapas de cominuição. Os testes de flotação, por sua vez, mostraram que o desempenho é diferenciado, em função do grau de liberação dos mesmos.

Aug 16, 2017

By Milan Terčelj, Matej Drobne, Urška Klančnik, Peter Fajfar

The study of oxidation behavior of High Chromium Steel material used for surface layer of work rolls was carried out. Specimens taken directly from the roll were subjected to thermal fatigue in the temperature range between room temperature and 500 °C up to 700 °C by using thermo-mechanical simulator Gleeble 1500D. Our observation was focused on the impact of oxidation as a principal mechanism of degradation of the roll’s surface layer - mainly on the characteristics of oxidation propagation in relation to the test temperature and microstructure constituents characteristics of the material. Oxidation is considerably accelerated by certain characteristics of eutectic and primary carbides, i.e. their size (area), composition, morphology, orientation regarding to the water-cooled surface, etc. In the presented paper selected cases where emphasized oxidation takes place are investigated, analyzed and explained. Obtained results thus represent a contribution to explanation of conditions which lead to acceleration of oxidation behavior that in turn can lead to chipping or even early spalling of material from the roll surface layer.

Oct 1, 2019

By Renan da Silva Ramos, Caio da Silva Pontes, Leonardo Paraíba Cidrão, Alexandre Bestwina, Vilson Wenis dos Santos Belle, Gabriel Flintz Fraga Marques

A resposta a impacto balístico dos compósitos de alumina com polietileno de ultra alto peso molecular (PEAUPM) com diferentes concentrações relativas de alumina foi investigada. Os testes de impacto foram realizados em velocidade subsônica usando sistema de ar comprimido. As amostras de melhor desempenho foram as A00 e A90, sendo fraca a adesão interfacial entre a matriz de PEUAPM e as partículas de alumina. A profundidade de penetração (PP) em madeira MDF, protegido por um disco feito do compósito, diminuiu com o aumento da concentração de alumina no compósito.

Mar 1, 2019

By Elham Kordzadeh

As the world’s reserves of coarse and high-grade iron ores continue to shrink, beneficiation is becoming increasingly important. The resulting concentrates cannot be used directly as feedstock for iron making, but require an additional agglomeration step. Pelletizing is preferred, because the uniform chemical, physical, and metallurgical characteristics of pellets make them a more desirable feed for the iron making processes. The heat hardening or induration of pellets is typically done in shaft furnaces, grate-kiln systems or on straight grates. Rotary kilns were originally developed in the late 19th century for Portland cement production [1]. The main development work for the successful adaptation of the process to the thermal treatment (induration) of green balls from iron ore was performed by Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in the 1960’s [2].The straight grate process, which was first used in 1955 at Silver Bay, Minnesota, was a dedicated development with the aim to pelletize and indurate magnetite (taconite) concentrate [2]. There are various important technical and economical distinctions between the two pelletizing technologies. The most important differences include that a grate-kiln has three distinct pieces of equipment, a preheat grate, a rotary kiln and an annular cooler, whereas in the case of a straight grate, the entire indurating process is done on one piece of equipment only. In addition, both technological solutions have differences in their recuperation systems, direction of air flow in drying, number of burners, form of pellet movement, etc., which cause differences in raw material suitability, process control, economical aspects, plant operation and product pellet quality.

Oct 30, 2017

By Dilermando Nagle Travessa

High strength-light weight materials are very attractive for the transportation sector, particularly to the aerospace industry. High strength-age hardenable aluminium alloys are widely used in airframes due to their unique combination of strength, density, toughness, corrosion resistance, cost and easy processing. However, the hardening capacity of such alloys is somehow saturated due to thermodynamic issues related to the conventional processing. The production of aluminum-matrix composites is a promising strategy to overcome this limitation, resulting in strength levels that cannot be reached by actual commercial aluminum alloys. In the present work, multiwall carbon nanotubes were used to reinforce the AA6061 aluminium alloy. 1 and 2% weight percent of MWCNT were mixed to the alloy powder by high-energy ball-milling process. The blended powder was consolidated by hot extrusion. The obtained composite bars were submitted to heat treatment for the T6 condition in order to combine both CNT dispersion and precipitation hardening effects. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, as well as hardeness testing, was used to characterize the bars. Typical wrought microstructure, free of defects, was observed on the extruded bars. Hardness of the composites was observed to increase by 20, 28 and 68% for 1% MWCNT 6 h milling, 2% MWCNT 6 h milling and 2% MWCNT 10 h milling, respectively, in the as-extruded condition. The better performance for the composites blended at higher milling time was attributed to a better nanotubes dispersion. Subsequent heat treatment to the T6 condition did not result in additional hardening.

Aug 8, 2018

By Luís Marcelo Marques Tavares, Gilvandro Bueno, Túlio MoreiraCampos

The HPGR development and application in the minerals industry resulted in an important increase in its application in iron ore pellet feed processing in the last decades. Vale SA was one of the pioneers in application of the HPGR in integrated plants, currently operating with six HPGRs in the pelletizing plants of Complexo de Tubarão (Vitória, ES). The work uses the mathematical model of the HPGR, proposed by Torres & Casali and modified by the present authors, to predict the performance of two industrial pellet feed HPGR units of the Complexo de Tubarão. Besides model validation, results of process simulations are shown in order to optimize the pellet feed pressing according to industrial demands, presenting different scenarios that are more attractive to HPGR operation. Simulations showed that it is feasible to reduce the specific surface area of the HPGR feed from 1770 cm²/g to 1570 cm²/g, allowing to produce a pellet feed of the same quality in its product (1911 cm²/g) and therefore reduce the work done by upstream ball milling.

Oct 1, 2019

By Ernst Lindemann

Steel suppliers are required to deliver sheets with particular qualities and with lightweight-potential to the automotive industry. New types of steel call for new production processes. SMS group has developed a new micro-mill-concept, the core of which is the belt caster. This was first built on an industrial scale and has been put into operation and developed together with Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. The robustness in industrial-scale operation could be verified. The full use of the belt casting technology, mainly related to energy efficiency and CO2 reduction, is realized with the micro-mill-concept. This is an in-line-process, casting and rolling in one line.

Aug 17, 2017

By Walter Valery, Kristy Duffy, Alex Jankovic, Peter Holtham

Hatch’s Mine to Process Optimization projects integrate mining and processing strategies, minimizing operating costs and maximizing overall profit. The methodology involves ore characterization, blast audits, plant surveys, analysis of historical data, and integrated modelling and simulation of mining and processing. Blast designs are tailored according to ore type and the downstream process is optimized for the changed feed. This approach has increased throughput and minimized costs for many operations worldwide. The implementation of this methodology at an iron ore operation that faced challenges with increasing mining strip ratio and ore body mineralogy changes is presented in this paper. The larger stripping ratio increased mining costs and constrained the run-of-mine (ROM) delivery to the process plant. Process performance was affected as the ore mineralogy shifted from predominantly hematite to include greater proportions of magnetite. The project objective was to minimize overall cost per ton mined and processed and maximize profit. Tailoring the blast designs according to ore type and process optimization increased the throughput of all process lines. This provided the potential to shut down one of the five processing line, aligning the mine and plant capacity and significantly reducing the processing costs.

Oct 3, 2019

By Laurent Dorel, Sebastien Maillard, Afchine Nasserian, Jean-Paul Faure

Surface quality monitoring is primarily implemented in the last steps of steel manufacturing before shipment to the end user. However, an increasing trend for also addressing this topic in the upstream stages, such as hot rolling plant, is tackled by Primetals Technologies to give steel producers the key to a global optimized yield management, and efficient “lessons learned” processes. After the last developments of SIAS Next Gen platform, including High Resolution and Near Infra-Red, some site results will be exposed on the very specific high constraints lines such as ESP Endless Strip Production and Plate Mills, and highlights the related most interesting aspects for our customers.

Oct 1, 2019

By Daniel Augusto Godinho de Carvalho

Since the beginning of BOF process, slag formation has been subjected to extensive development. During the initial stages of the blow, fast slag formation is primordial for the process performance. This is mainly to allow oxidizing reactions, and also to protect the refractory. A modeling of BOF process for the purpose of process optimization requires precise knowledge concerning the dissolution of CaO and MgO based materials. Using this knowledge, the optimal process conditions can be ensured by a controlling of the slag formation during the converter steelmaking process. Taking into account an application of large amount of different raw materials, as well as location-specific process conditions, the characterization of the dissolution behavior of different additives is an important key to improve the technological process. Thereby, in the frames of this project, an appropriate model for slag formation is established and compared to operational results for a 330t BOF, operating at ThyssenKrupp CSA, Santa Cruz, Brazil.

Aug 16, 2017

By Tamara Caroline Guimarães Vilela

Neste trabalho foi avaliado o comportamento de propagação de trinca por fadiga de cinco aços utilizados na fabricação de trilhos empregados na construção e manutenção de vias permanentes brasileiras, por meio da realização de ensaios de propagação de trinca por fadiga (da/dN x ?K), utilizando-se a razão de tensões de carregamento R = 0,7 e comparação com os resultados obtidos com R = 0,1. Vários modelos de previsão do comportamento em fadiga foram avaliados. Observou-se a influência de R nos valores mais próximos ao limiar ?KTH, com diminuição considerável no valor de ?KTH para R = 0,7. Dentre os modelos matemáticos usados no ajuste das curvas sigmoidais da/dN x ?K, o que forneceu melhor ajuste foi o ajuste de Hartman e Schijve. O parâmetro K? proposto por Kujawski reduziu os efeitos de R na tentativa de unificar os dados em uma única e estreita banda de dispersão, porém, na Região I da curva, os dados ainda ficaram bastante dispersos.

Aug 17, 2017

By Carlos de Figueiredo Gontijo

Um minério de ferro, reconhecido por sua dificuldade de desaguamento, foi caracterizado. As forças capilares e a composição mineralógica do minério explicam seu comportamento frente ao desaguamento. Através de ensaios de compactação a forma de ocorrência da água pode ser inferida. A água no estado pendular e funicular ficam retidas por capilaridade no leito. Parte da água instersticial e a água livre podem ser drenadas, por gravidade ou com aplicação de vácuo, mas nunca atingindo o valor de umidade onde ocorre um mínimo na curva de densidade aparente.

Oct 30, 2017

By Nicolás Ariel Zabala

During the make-up and break-out of the connections, threaded joints are exposed to intense mechanical and tribological solicitations. The connection performance is influenced by its geometry, material properties, surface treatments and thread compound. The aim of this work is to evaluate and characterize the tribological behavior of different thread compounds applied on manganese phosphated carbon steel under low speed and high pressure sliding contact. Four thread compounds were evaluated: one containing lead, zinc and graphite; other lead-free, containing copper and finally, the last two lead-free and containing non-metallic solids. The tribological behavior was analyzed by a block-on-ring tribotest. During the test, load varied linearly between 250 N and 7000 N; loading and unloading lasted 14 sec and were performed in opposite directions of rotation to simulate the make-up and break-out operations. Friction force and load as a function of time were registered. Upon completion of the test, wear surfaces were analyzed by SEM, optical microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The obtained results show that the lead and zinc containing thread compound displayed the best behavior, showing a wear reduction of approximately 20%. These results are in line with previously known oilfield experience. Average COF values around 0.15 were measured and no significant differences between dopes were observed; indicating that the wear behavior was influenced by the additive package.

Jul 31, 2018