INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

AT

AJAOKUTA STEEL MILL

NIGERIA

TRAINING REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BETWEEN

12TH JULY AND 9TH OF AUGUST

SUBMITTED BY:

OSUDE BENEDICT

SUBMITTED TO:

METIN BILIN
ABSTRACT

The Ajaokuta Steel Company is one of the steel mills, located I the western part
of Nigeria and it was established 1979 and charged with the task of constructing
and operating an integrated iron and steel plant. Ajaokuta Steel plant was
planned to be built in three stages. The first stage of 1.3 million tonnes to
produce long steel products was followed by immediate expansion to 3.6
million tonnes for the production of 1.3 million tons of flat products in addition
to the long products. The third stage is the expansion of the complex to produce
5.2 million tons of various types of finished and semi-finished steel products
including heavy plates and heavy sections. The plant is designed such that it can
be expanded up to 10 million tonnes eventually subject to demand. The steel
complex is almost completed.

2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost a special thanks to almighty God for his

abundant blessings all through the training.

To the national metallurgical center, Jos. A special thanks to

you to for accepting my application for an internship in the steel.

To my supervisor and my very own personal assistant who

helped me through all the difficulties while getting accustomed the
mill.

To the rest of the steel mill, a gracious thanks to you all. It

wasn’t easy but it was worth the experience.

God bless you all.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………….…….3

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………...…….5

BACKGROUND TO THE NIGERIAN STEEL INDUSTRY………………….5

CHAPTER 2

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND TRAINING DESCRIPTION…………….…12

CHAPTER 3

IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES…………………….15

INTRODUCTION TO STEEL PRODUCTION ……………………….…….15

PIG-IRON PRODUCTION…………………………………………………..16

OTHER METHODS OF IRON REFINING…………………..………………18

OPEN HEARTH PROCESS………………………………………..…………19

BASIC OXYGEN PROCESS…………………………………………………21

ELECTRIC-FURNACE STEEL………………………………………………21

FINISHING PROCESSES…………………………………………………….22

PIPE……………………………………………………………………………22

RED-INGOT…………………………………………………………….……..23

TIN PLATE………………………………………………………………...….25

WROUGHT IRON…………………………………………………………....25

CLASSIFICATIONS OF STEEL……………………………………………..27

Carbon Steels…………………………………………………….……………27

Alloy Steels……………………………………………………………………27

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High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels………………………………………………27

Stainless Steels………………………………………………………………....27

Tool Steels……………………………………………………………………..28

STRUCTURE OF STEEL………………………………………..……………28

HEAT TREATMENT OF STEEL………………………………………….....29

CHAPTER 4

STEEL MILL SAFETY REGULATIONS……………………….……………30

Health and Safety Hazards…………………………………………..…………30

Other health hazards…………………………………………….……………..33

..

5
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE NIGERIAN STEEL INDUSTRY

Planning for the Nigerian Steel Industry started around 1958 as earlier stated.
The starting point was the search for appropriate local inputs, the characteristics
of which determined the particular technologies that would be adopted. Iron ore
was located at Agbaja, Itakpe and Udi; suitable Limestone at Jakura, Mfamosin
and other parts of the country. Coal deposits were always there at Enugu while
potential coke-able coal was struck at Lafia.

Market surveys were commissioned and the construction of the Kainji Hydro-
electric Dam promised an abundant source of electrical energy. Between 1961
and 1965 many firms from the industrialized nations of the West submitted
proposals for the construction of an integrated Steel Plant in Nigeria. The view,
then, was that the available raw materials could not be used in conventional Iron
and Steel making technologies. The “Strategic Udy Process”, a direct reduction
(DR) process still in the pilot plant stage in the USA, was then considered by
Nigeria. The idea was accepted and a joint venture company, the Nigerian Steel
Associates was formed with Westinghouse and Koppers as the foreign Partners.
This programme failed because it did not prove capable of meeting commercial
scale requirements.

In 1967 a UNIDO survey identified Nigeria as a potential steel Market. This led
to the signing of a bilateral agreement between the defunct Soviet Union and
Nigeria, and, the arrival of Soviet steel experts in Nigeria to conduct a
feasibility study. The experts recommended the Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen
Furnace (BF/BOF) process of 570,000 tonnes per annum capacity of rolled
products. They also confirmed the availability of raw materials and
recommended further geological surveys. In 1970 a contract was awarded to
TiajPromExport (TPE) of defunct USSR to conduct a study to identify sources
of feedstock, quality and quantity of materials for the proposed integrated iron
and steel plant. By this time the second National Development Plan (1970 –
1975) had envisaged the construction of a 750,000 tonnes per year capacity
Plant.

Apart from Government Ventures there were a few private initiatives in the
lesser capital-intensive steel industry of rolling mills coming up.

6
The Nigerian Steel Development Authority

In April 1971, the Nigerian Steel Development Authority (NSDA) was

established by a Military Decree (No.9 of April 14). Thus, the first formal body
to be charged with the supervision of the steel programme in Nigeria was born.
NSDA was charged with;

o Planning, construction and operation of Steel Plants.

o Carrying out geological surveys, market surveys, metallurgical research
and training.

The Authority was to examine various process routes including natural gas-
based direct reduction processes that require high-grade iron ores, which were
not available in Nigeria. In 1973, the presence of good grade ore (though not of
high-grade quality) was confirmed at Itakpe that led to the NSDA
commissioning TPE to prepare a Preliminary Project Report (PPR) for the
proposed BF/BOF Plant. The PPR was submitted in 1974, scrutinized and
finally accepted in 1975. With the source of Iron Ore confirmed it was proposed
that coking coal would be imported and blended appropriately with local coals.
A three-phased development program (1st phase to produce 1.3 million tonnes,
which will be expanded to 2.6 million tonnes incorporating the flat sheet
production in the 2nd phase, and the third phase to increase capacity to 5.2
million tonnes) was accepted.

The initial product mix proposal suggested 50% long products and 50% flat
products. This was based on the product demand profile revealed by market
surveys. The Government decided that Ajaokuta Steel Plant should produce
only long products in the first stage of 1.3 million tonnes per year, and flat
products in the 2.6 million tonnes expansion which was planned to dove-tail the
first phase completion and this is to be followed by a third phase of 5.2 million
tonnes per annum. This decision was advised by the need to take advantage of
economy of scale since flat-product mills of capacity below 1 million tonnes
were considered uneconomical. An additional consideration was to use the
relatively simpler technology of long-products rolling to rain up an otherwise
virgin and inexperienced Nigerian Workforce of the time.

7
 The NSDA was dissolved by the federal Government in 1979 and this
metamorphosed in to several organizations, thus:

o Ajaokuta Steel Project, Ajaokuta

o The Delta Steel Company, Ovwian - Aladja
o Jos Steel Rolling Company, Jos
o Katsina Steel Rolling Company, Katsina
o Oshogbo Steel Rolling Company, Oshogbo
o National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe.
o National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, Kaduna.
o National Metallurgical Development Center, Jos.
o Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha.

The last three establishments are to be fully funded by the Government, through
the Ministry. The rest of the organizations are supposed to be companies that
should be self-funding, because at one time or the other, they had been
incorporated as limited liability companies.

S/No Plant Type of Iron- Casting Rolling Product

Location making Mix
Plant Process Capacity
Process
(per year)
and

capacity

(per year)
i. Ajaokuta Inter-grated Blast 3 no. 540,000 Bars, rods,
Steel Co. furnace, tons long light
(Public) 4-strand for
Ltd. capacity products sections
blooms
1.35m.ton
Ajaokuta
ii. Alliance Rolling - - 20,000 tons Bars
Steel Co., mill long
Ibadan products
iii. Allied Rolling - - 20,000 tons Bars
Steel Co., mill long
Onitsha products

8
iv. Asiastic Rolling - - 60,000 tons Bars;
Manarin mill long sections
Ind., Ikeja products
v. Continental Mini mill - - 150,000 Bars;
Iron & tons long sections
Steel Co., products
Ikeja
vi. Delta Steel Inter-grated 2 Midrex 3no. 320,000 Bars; rods;
Co., 600 series tons long sections
(Public) 6-strand for
Ovwien/Al Direct products
billets
adja, Reduction
furnaces;
capacity1.0
2 m.t
vii. Federated Mini mill - - 140,000 Bars;
Steel tons long sections
Industry, products
Otta
viii. General Mini-mill - - 50,000 tons Bars
Steel Mill, long
Asaba products
ix. Jos Steel Rolling - - 210,000 Bars, rods
Rolling mill tons long
Company, products
(Public)
Jos
x. Katsina Rolling - - 210,000 Bars, rods
Steel mill tons long
Rolling Co. products
(Public)
Katsina
xi. Kew Metal Mini-mill - - 20,000 tons Bars;
Industries, long sections
Ikorodu products
xii. Kwara Rolling - - 40,000 tons Bars
Commercia long

9
 l, Metal mill products
and
Chemical
Industries,
Ilorin
xiii Mayor Rolling - - 220,000 Bars.
Eng. Co., mill tons long sections
Ikorodu products
xiv Metcombe Rolling - - 10,000 tons Bars;
Steel Co., mill long sections
Owerri products
xv. Nigerian Mini mill - - 100,000 Bars
Spanish tons long
Eng. Co., products
Kano
xvi. Nigersteel Mini mill - - 40,000 tons Bars;
Co., Enugu long sections
products
xvii. Oshogbo Rolling - - 210,000 Bars; rods
Steel Co., mill tons long
Oshogbo products
(Public)
xviii. Qua Steel Rolling - - 60,000 tons Bars,
Products, mill long sections
Eket products
xix. Selsametal, Rolling - - 100,000 Bars
Otta mill tons long
products
xx. Union Rolling - - 20,000 tons Bars
Steel Co., mill long
Ilorin products

10
xxi. Universal Mini mill - - 80,000 tons Bars,
Steel Co., long sections
Ikeja products
xxii. Baoyao Rolling - - 20,000 tons Bars
Futurelex, mill long
Abuja products

CHAPTER 2

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND TRAINING DESCRIPTION

11
 Ariel view of the Ajaokuta steel mill

The Ajaokuta Steel Company is one of the steel mills that were born when the
NSDA was dissolved. This mill is located at the western part of Nigeria and it
was established 1979. The Ajaokuta Steel plant is built in three stages. The first
stage of 1.3 million tonnes to produce long steel products was followed by
immediate expansion to 3.6 million tonnes for the production of 1.3 million tons
of flat products in addition to the long products. The third stage is the expansion
of the complex to produce 5.2 million tons of various types of finished and
semi-finished steel products including heavy plates and heavy sections. The
plant is designed such that it can be expanded up to 10 million tonnes eventually
subject to demand. The Ajaokuta steel mill was tasked with producing services
such as;

(i) Cast iron (different categories),

(ii) Rods and bars (both high tensile and mild steel varieties),

(iii) Wires (in all its ramifications),

(iv) Structural steels (light, medium and heavy structural),

(v) Flat sheet steels (plain, and galvanized, and also the entire spectrum
classified as flats),

(vi) Stainless and other special alloy steels,

(vii) Rails and pipes,

(viii) Plates (various sizes in width and thickness).

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 INTERIOR VIEW OF THE STEEL MILL

The site of the Ajaokuta mill is like a small community (it is very gigantic). The
first day on site was very interesting and I was excited, I was given a tour of the
facility by my supervisor who is a senior staff of the company. I was to
13
accompany him while he was making his morning trip around the facility upon
an electrical mobile. He put me through a rough sketch of the facility and a bit
of history the rest of the day ended on a better note since I was the new guy
people were quite eager to help.

The company rule is that even if you are a working employee newly employee
to the facility you won’t operate any machinery or participate in the processing
of steel. You will go through six months of just observation and tutoring, it’s
more like a safety measure since every part of the facility is as dangerous as the
other. Every part of the main processing unit is hot!!!

The rest of my first month I was tagged with junior staffs that was tasked who
in turn is a newly employed staff and is presently at the last quarter of his
training period. I spent a great deal of the rest of my internship with him, and I
was to write a report on my weekly activities and submit to my supervisor at the
end of every week.

CHAPTER 3

IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES.

14
3.1 INTRODUCTION TO STEEL PRODUCTION

Steel Production

Molten pig iron is poured into a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) for conversion to
steel. Steel is a form of iron produced from iron ore, coke, and limestone in a
blast furnace. Excess carbon and other impurities are removed to make strong
steel.

Iron and Steel Manufacture, technology related to the production of iron and its

alloys, particularly those containing a small percentage of carbon. The
differences between the various types of iron and steel are sometimes confusing
because of the nomenclature used. Steel in general is an alloy of iron and
carbon, often with an admixture of other elements. Some alloys that are
commercially called irons contain more carbon than commercial steels. Open-
hearth iron and wrought iron contain only a few hundredths of 1% of carbon.
Steels of various types contain from 0.04 % to 2.25 % of carbon. Cast iron,
malleable cast iron, and pig iron contain amounts of carbon varying from 2-4 %.
A special form of malleable iron, containing virtually no carbon, is known as
white-heart malleable iron. A special group of iron alloys, known as ferroalloys,
is used in the manufacture of iron and steel alloys; they contain from 20 to 80 %
of an alloying element, such as manganese, silicon, or chromium.

15
 3.1.1 PIG-IRON PRODUCTION

Blast Furnace

In order to turn crude iron ore into usable pig iron, its impurities must be
removed. A blast furnace accomplishes this by forcing extremely hot air
through a mixture of ore, coke, and limestone, called the charge. Carts called
skips dump the charge into the top of the furnace, where it filters down through
bell-shaped containers called hoppers. Once in the furnace, the charge is
subjected to air blasts that may be as hot as 870° C (1600° F). (The furnace
must be lined with a layer of firebrick, called the refractory, in order to sustain
these temperatures.) Melted metal collects in the bottom of the furnace. The
waste metal, called slag, floats on top of the molten pig iron. Both of these
substances are drained, or tapped, periodically for further processing.

The basic materials used for the manufacture of pig iron are iron ore, coke, and
limestone. The coke is burned as a fuel to heat the furnace; as it burns, the coke
gives off carbon monoxide, which combines with the iron oxides in the ore,
reducing them to metallic iron. This is the basic chemical reaction in the blast
furnace; it has the equation: Fe2O3 + 3CO = 3CO2 + 2Fe. The limestone in the
furnace charge is used as an additional source of carbon monoxide and as a
“flux” to combine with the infusible silica present in the ore to form fusible
16
calcium silicate. Without the limestone, iron silicate would be formed, with a
resulting loss of metallic iron. Calcium silicate plus other impurities form a slag
that floats on top of the molten metal at the bottom of the furnace. Ordinary pig
iron as produced by blast furnaces contains iron, about 92 %; carbon, 3 or 4 %;
silicon, 0.5 - 3 %; manganese, 0.25 - 2.5%; phosphorus, 0.04 - 2 %; and a trace
of sulphur.

A typical blast furnace consists of a cylindrical steel shell lined with a

refractory, which is any non-metallic substance such as firebrick. The shell is
tapered at the top and at the bottom and is widest at a point about one-quarter of
the distance from the bottom. The lower portion of the furnace, called the bosh,
is equipped with several tubular openings or tuyeres through which the air blast
is forced. Near the bottom of the bosh is a hole through which the molten pig
iron flows when the furnace is tapped, and above this hole, but below the
tuyeres, is another hole for draining the slag. The top of the furnace, which is
about 27 m (about 90 ft.) in height, contains vents for the escaping gases, and a
pair of round hoppers closed with bell-shaped valves through which the charge
is introduced into the furnace. The materials are brought up to the hoppers in
small dump cars or skips that are hauled up an inclined external skip hoist.

Blast furnaces operate continuously. The raw material to be fed into the furnace

is divided into a number of small charges that are introduced into the furnace at
10- to 15-min intervals. Slag is drawn off from the top of the melt about once
every 2 hrs. and the iron itself is drawn off or tapped about five times a day.

The air used to supply the blast in a blast furnace is preheated to temperatures

between approximately 540° and 870° C (approximately 1,000° and 1,600° F).
The heating is performed in stoves, cylinders containing networks of firebrick.
The bricks in the stoves are heated for several hours by burning blast-furnace
gas, the waste gases from the top of the furnace. Then the flame is turned off
and the air for the blast is blown through the stove. The weight of air used in the
operation of a blast furnace exceeds the total weight of the other raw materials
employed.

An important development in blast furnace technology, the pressurizing of

furnaces, was introduced after World War II. By “throttling” the flow of gas
from the furnace vents, the pressure within the furnace may be built up to 1.7
atm or more. The pressurizing technique makes possible better combustion of
the coke and higher output of pig iron. The output of many blast furnaces can be

17
increased 25 %by pressurizing. Experimental installations have also shown that
the output of blast furnaces can be increased by enriching the air blast with
oxygen.

The process of tapping consists of knocking out a clay plug from the iron hole
near the bottom of the bosh and allowing the molten metal to flow into a clay-
lined runner and then into a large, brick-lined metal container, which may be
either a ladle or a rail car capable of holding as much as 100 tons of metal. Any
slag that may flow from the furnace with the metal is skimmed off before it
reaches the container. The container of molten pig iron is then transported to the
steelmaking shop.

Modern-day blast furnaces are operated in conjunction with basic oxygen

furnaces and sometimes the older open-hearth furnaces as part of a single steel-
producing plant. In such plants the molten pig iron is used to charge the steel
furnaces. The molten metal from several blast furnaces may be mixed in a large
ladle before it is converted to steel, to minimize any irregularities in the
composition of the individual melts.

3.2 OTHER METHODS OF IRON REFINING

Although almost all the iron and steel manufactured in the world is made from

pig iron produced by the blast-furnace process, other methods of iron refining
are possible and have been practiced to a limited extent. One such method is the
so-called direct method of making iron and steel from ore, without making pig
iron. In this process iron ore and coke are mixed in a revolving kiln and heated
to a temperature of about 950° C (about 1,740° F). Carbon monoxide is given
off from the heated coke just as in the blast furnace and reduces the oxides of
the ore to metallic iron. The secondary reactions that occur in a blast furnace,
however, do not occur, and the kiln produces so-called sponge iron of much
higher purity than pig iron. Virtually pure iron is also produced by means of
electrolysis (see Electrochemistry), by passing an electric current through a
solution of ferrous chloride. Neither the direct nor the electrolytic processes
have yet achieved any great commercial significance.

3.2.1 OPEN-HEARTH PROCESS

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 Steel Production at a Krupp Plant

Based in Germany, the Krupp Corporation is a leading manufacturer of iron and

steel in Europe. This Krupp plant worker makes sure that the raw materials used
to make steel are added to the process in the correct quantities and at the correct
times. Extremely hot temperatures generate the chemical reactions necessary to
turn crude iron ore into iron, or with further refinements, steel.

Essentially the production of steel from pig iron by any process consists of

burning out the excess carbon and other impurities present in the iron. One
difficulty in the manufacture of steel is its high melting point, about 1,370° C
(about 2,500° F), which prevents the use of ordinary fuels and furnaces. To
overcome this difficulty the open-hearth furnace was developed; this furnace
can be operated at a high temperature by regenerative preheating of the fuel gas
and air used for combustion in the furnace. In regenerative preheating, the
exhaust gases from the furnace are drawn through one of a series of chambers
containing a mass of brickwork and give up most of their heat to the bricks.
Then the flow through the furnace is reversed and the fuel and air pass through
the heated chambers and are warmed by the bricks. Through this method open-
hearth furnaces can reach temperatures as high as 1,650° C (approximately
3,000° F).

The furnace itself consists typically of a flat, rectangular brick hearth about 6 m

by 10 m (about 20 ft. by 33 ft.), which is roofed over at a height of about 2.5 m

19
(about 8 ft.). In front of the hearth a series of doors opens out onto a working
floor in front of the hearth. The entire hearth and working floor are one story
above ground level, and the space under the hearth is taken up by the heat-
regenerating chambers of the furnace. A furnace of this size produces about 100
metric tons of steel every 11 hr.

The furnace is charged with a mixture of pig iron (either molten or cold), scrap

steel, and iron ore that provides additional oxygen. Limestone is added for flux
and fluorspar to make the slag more fluid. The proportions of the charge vary
within wide limits, but a typical charge might consist of 56,750 kg (125,000 lb.)
of scrap steel, 11,350 kg (25,000 lb.) of cold pig iron, 45,400 kg (100,000 lb.) of
molten pig iron, 11,800 kg (26,000 lb.) of limestone, 900 kg (2,000 lb.) of iron
ore, and 230 kg (500 lb.) of fluorspar. After the furnace has been charged, the
furnace is lighted and the flames play back and forth over the hearth as their
direction is reversed by the operator to provide heat regeneration.

Chemically the action of the open-hearth furnace consists of lowering the

carbon content of the charge by oxidization and of removing such impurities as
silicon, phosphorus, manganese, and sulphur, which combine with the limestone
to form slag. These reactions take place while the metal in the furnace is at
melting heat, and the furnace is held between 1,540° and 1,650° C (2,800° and
3,000° F) for many hours until the molten metal has the desired carbon content.
Experienced open-hearth operators can often judge the carbon content of the
metal by its appearance, but the melt is usually tested by withdrawing a small
amount of metal from the furnace, cooling it, and subjecting it to physical
examination or chemical analysis. When the carbon content of the melt reaches
the desired level, the furnace is tapped through a hole at the rear. The molten
steel then flows through a short trough to a large ladle set below the furnace at
ground level. From the ladle the steel is poured into cast-iron moulds that form
ingots usually about 1.5 m (about 5 ft.) long and 48 cm (19 in) square. These
ingots, the raw material for all forms of fabricated steel, weigh approximately
2.25 metric tons in this size. Recently, methods have been put into practice for
the continuous processing of steel without first having to go through the process
of casting ingots.

3.2.2 BASIC OXYGEN PROCESS

20
The oldest process for making steel in large quantities, the Bessemer process,
made use of a tall, pear-shaped furnace, called a Bessemer converter that could
be tilted sideways for charging and pouring. Great quantities of air were blown
through the molten metal; its oxygen united chemically with the impurities and
carried them off.

In the basic oxygen process, steel is also refined in a pear-shaped furnace that

tilts sideways for charging and pouring. Air, however, has been replaced by a
high-pressure stream of nearly pure oxygen. After the furnace has been charged
and turned upright, an oxygen lance is lowered into it. The water-cooled tip of
the lance is usually about 2 m (about 6 ft.) above the charge although this
distance can be varied according to requirements. Thousands of cubic meters of
oxygen are blown into the furnace at supersonic speed. The oxygen combines
with carbon and other unwanted elements and starts a high-temperature
churning reaction that rapidly burns out impurities from the pig iron and
converts it into steel. The refining process takes 50 min or less; approximately
275 metric tons of steel can be made in an hour.

3.3.3 ELECTRIC-FURNACE STEEL

In some furnaces, electricity instead of fire supplies the heat for the smelting

and refining of steel. Because refining conditions in such a furnace can be
regulated more strictly than in open-hearth or basic oxygen furnaces, electric
furnaces are particularly valuable for producing stainless steels and other highly
alloyed steels that must be made to exacting specifications. Refining takes place
in a tightly closed chamber, where temperatures and other conditions are kept
under rigid control by automatic devices. During the early stages of this refining
process, high-purity oxygen is injected through a lance, raising the temperature
of the furnace and decreasing the time needed to produce the finished steel. The
quantity of oxygen entering the furnace can always be closely controlled, thus
keeping down undesirable oxidizing reactions.

Most often the charge consists almost entirely of scrap. Before it is ready to be

used, the scrap must first be analysed and sorted, because its alloy content will
affect the composition of the refined metal. Other materials, such as small
quantities of iron ore and dry lime, are added in order to help remove carbon

21
and other impurities that are present. The additional alloying element goes
either into the charge or, later, into the refined steel as it is poured into the ladle.

After the furnace is charged, electrodes are lowered close to the surface of the

metal. The current enters through one of the electrodes, arcs to the metallic
charge, flows through the metal, and then arcs back to the next electrode. Heat
is generated by the overcoming of resistance to the flow of current through the
charge. This heat, together with that coming from the intensely hot arc itself,
quickly melts the metal. In another type of electric furnace, heat is generated in
a coil. See Electric Furnace.

3.4 FINISHING PROCESSES

Steel Shaping: Hot Rolling and Continuous Casting

Continuous casting (right, red arrows) is a method of working steel that conveys
steel from its molten state to blooms, ingots, or slabs. The white-hot metal is
poured into open-ended moulds and continues on through rollers cooled by
water. A series of guide rollers further shapes the steel into the desired form.
However, hot rolling (left, blue arrows) is still the primary means of milling
steel. This process begins with pre-shaped steel slabs, which are reheated in a
soaking pit. The steel passes through a series of mills: the blooming mill, the
roughing mill, and the finishing mill, which make it progressively thinner.
Finally, the steel is wound into coils and transported elsewhere for further
processing.

22
Steel is marketed in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, such as rods, pipes,
railroad rails, tees, channels, and I-beams. These shapes are produced at steel
mills by rolling and otherwise forming heated ingots to the required shape. The
working of steel also improves the quality of the steel by refining its crystalline
structure and making the metal tougher.

The basic process of working steel is known as hot rolling. In hot rolling the

cast ingot is first heated to bright-red heat in a furnace called a soaking pit and
is then passed between a series of pairs of metal rollers that squeeze it to the
desired size and shape. The distance between the rollers diminishes for each
successive pair as the steel is elongated and reduced in thickness.

A Hot Ingot

3.4.1 A RED-INGOT

An ingot, red-hot and malleable from the high temperature of the soaking pit, is
lifted out of the furnace for further processing. As the steel is worked and
reheated, it becomes stronger.

The first pair of rollers through which the ingot passes is commonly called the

blooming mill, and the square billets of steel that the ingot produces are known
as blooms. From the blooming mill, the steel is passed on to roughing mills and
finally to finishing mills that reduce it to the correct cross section. The rollers of
mills used to produce railroad rails and such structural shapes as I-beams, H-
beams, and angles are grooved to give the required shape.

Modern manufacturing requires a large amount of thin sheet steel. Continuous

mills roll steel strips and sheets in widths of up to 2.4 m (8 ft.). Such mills
process thin sheet steel rapidly, before it cools and becomes unworkable. A slab
of hot steel over 11 cm (about 4.5 in) thick is fed through a series of rollers
which reduce it progressively in thickness to 0.127 cm (0.05 in) and increase its

23
length from 4 m (13 ft.) to 370 m (1,210 ft.). Continuous mills are equipped
with a number of accessory devices including edging rollers, descaling devices,
and devices for coiling the sheet automatically when it reaches the end of the
mill. The edging rollers are sets of vertical rolls set opposite each other at either
side of the sheet to ensure that the width of the sheet is maintained. Descaling
apparatus removes the scale that forms on the surface of the sheet by knocking
it off mechanically, loosening it by means of an air blast, or bending the sheet
sharply at some point in its travel. The completed coils of sheet are dropped on
a conveyor and carried away to be annealed and cut into individual sheets. A
more efficient way to produce thin sheet steel is to feed thinner slabs through
the rollers. Using conventional casting methods, ingots must still be passed
through a blooming mill in order to produce slabs thin enough to enter a
continuous mill.

By devising a continuous casting system that produces an endless steel slab less

than 5 cm (2 in) thick, German engineers have eliminated any need for
blooming and roughing mills. In 1989, a steel mill in Indiana became the first
outside Europe to adopt this new system.

Cheaper grades of pipe are shaped by bending a flat strip, or skelp, of hot steel

into cylindrical form and welding the edges to complete the pipe. For the
smaller sizes of pipe, the edges of the skelp are usually overlapped and passed
between a pair of rollers curved to correspond with the outside diameter of the
pipe. The pressure on the rollers is great enough to weld the edges together.
Seamless pipe or tubing is made from solid rods by passing them between a pair
of inclined rollers that have a pointed metal bar, or mandrel, set between them
in such a way that it pierces the rods and forms the inside diameter of the pipe at
the same time that the rollers are forming the outside diameter.

3.4.2 TIN PLATE

By far the most important coated product of the steel mill is tin plate for the
manufacture of containers. The “tin” can is actually more than 99 % steel. In

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some mills steel sheets that have been hot-rolled and then cold-rolled are coated
by passing them through a bath of molten tin. The most common method of
coating is by the electrolytic process. Sheet steel is slowly unrolled from its coil
and passed through a chemical solution. Meanwhile, a current of electricity is
passing through a piece of pure tin into the same solution, causing the tin to
dissolve slowly and to be deposited on the steel. In electrolytic processing, less
than half a kilogram of tin will coat more than 18.6 sq. m (more than 200 sq. ft.)
of steel. For the product known as thin tin, sheet and strip are given a second
cold rolling before being coated with tin, a treatment that makes the steel plate
extra tough as well as extra thin. Cans made of thin tin are about as strong as
ordinary tin cans, yet they contain less steel, with a resultant saving in weight
and cost. Lightweight packaging containers are also being made of tin-plated
steel foil that has been laminated to paper or cardboard.

Other processes of steel fabrication include forging, founding, and drawing the

steel through dies

3.4.3 WROUGHT IRON

The process of making the tough, malleable alloy known as wrought iron differs

markedly from other forms of steel making. Because this process, known as
puddling, required a great deal of hand labour, production of wrought iron in
tonnage quantities was impossible. The development of new processes using
Bessemer converters and open-hearth furnaces allowed the production of larger
quantities of wrought iron.

Wrought iron is no longer produced commercially, however, because it can be

effectively replaced in nearly all applications by low-carbon steel, which is less
expensive to produce and is typically of more uniform quality than wrought
iron.

The puddling furnace used in the older process has a low, arched roof and a

depressed hearth on which the crude metal lies, separated by a wall from the
combustion chamber in which bituminous coal is burned. The flame in the
combustion chamber surmounts the wall, strikes the arched roof, and
“reverberates” upon the contents of the hearth. After the furnace is lit and has
become moderately heated, the puddler, or furnace operator, “fettles” it by
plastering the hearth and walls with a paste of iron oxide, usually hematite ore.
The furnace is then charged with about 270 kg (about 600 lb.) of pig iron and
the door is closed. After about 30 min the iron is melted and the puddler adds

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more iron oxide or mill scale to the charge, working the oxide into the iron with
a bent iron bar called a raddle. The silicon and most of the manganese in the
iron are oxidized and some sulphur and phosphorus are eliminated. The
temperature of the furnace is then raised slightly, and the carbon starts to burn
out as carbon-oxide gases. As the gas is evolved the slag puffs up and the level
of the charge rises. As the carbon is burned away the melting temperature of the
alloy increases and the charge becomes more and more pasty, and finally the
bath drops to its former level. As the iron increases in purity, the puddler stirs
the charge with the raddle to ensure uniform composition and proper cohesion
of the particles. The resulting pasty, sponge like mass is separated into lumps,
called balls, of about 80 to 90 kg (about 180 to 200 lb.) each. The balls are
withdrawn from the furnace with tongs and are placed directly in a squeezer, a
machine in which the greater part of the intermingled siliceous slag is expelled
from the ball and the grains of pure iron are thoroughly welded together. The
iron is then cut into flat pieces that are piled on one another, heated to welding
temperature, and then rolled into a single piece. This rolling process is
sometimes repeated to improve the quality of the product.

The modern technique of making wrought iron uses molten iron from a

Bessemer converter and molten slag, which is usually prepared by melting iron
ore, mill scale, and sand in an open-hearth furnace. The molten slag is
maintained in a ladle at a temperature several hundred degrees below the
temperature of the molten iron. When the molten iron, which carries a large
amount of gas in solution, is poured into the ladle containing the molten slag,
the metal solidifies almost instantly, releasing the dissolved gas. The force
exerted by the gas shatters the metal into minute particles that are heavier than
the slag and that accumulate in the bottom of the ladle, agglomerating into a
spongy mass similar to the balls produced in a puddling furnace. After the slag
has been poured off the top of the ladle, the ball of iron is removed and
squeezed and rolled like the product of the puddling furnace.

3.5 CLASSIFICATIONS OF STEEL

Steels are grouped into five main classifications.

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 3.5.1 Carbon Steels

More than 90 % of all steels are carbon steels. They contain varying amounts of
carbon and not more than 1.65 % manganese, 0.60 % silicon, and 0.60 %
copper. Machines, automobile bodies, most structural steel for buildings, ship
hulls, bedsprings, and bobby pins are among the products made of carbon steels.

3.5.2 Alloy Steels

These steels have a specified composition, containing certain percentages of

vanadium, molybdenum, or other elements, as well as larger amounts of
manganese, silicon, and copper than do the regular carbon steels. Automobile
gears and axles, roller skates, and carving knives are some of the many things
that are made of alloy steels.

3.5.3 High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels

Called HSLA steels, they are the newest of the five chief families of steels.

They cost less than the regular alloy steels because they contain only small
amounts of the expensive alloying elements. They have been specially
processed, however, to have much more strength than carbon steels of the same
weight. For example, freight cars made of HSLA steels can carry larger loads
because their walls are thinner than would be necessary with carbon steel of
equal strength; also, because an HSLA freight car is lighter in weight than the
ordinary car, it is less of a load for the locomotive to pull. Numerous buildings
are now being constructed with frameworks of HSLA steels. Girders can be
made thinner without sacrificing their strength, and additional space is left for
offices and apartments.

3.5.4 Stainless Steels

Stainless steels contain chromium, nickel, and other alloying elements that keep

them bright and rust resistant in spite of moisture or the action of corrosive
acids and gases. Some stainless steels are very hard; some have unusual strength
and will retain that strength for long periods at extremely high and low
temperatures. Because of their shining surfaces architects often use them for
decorative purposes. Stainless steels are used for the pipes and tanks of
petroleum refineries and chemical plants, for jet planes, and for space capsules.
Surgical instruments and equipment are made from these steels, and they are
also used to patch or replace broken bones because the steels can withstand the

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action of body fluids. In kitchens and in plants where food is prepared, handling
equipment is often made of stainless steel because it does not taint the food and
can be easily cleaned.

3.5.5 Tool Steels

These steels are fabricated into many types of tools or into the cutting and

shaping parts of power-driven machinery for various manufacturing operations.
They contain tungsten, molybdenum, and other alloying elements that give them
extra strength, hardness, and resistance to wear.

3.6 STRUCTURE OF STEEL

The physical properties of various types of steel and of any given steel alloy at

varying temperatures depend primarily on the amount of carbon present and on
how it is distributed in the iron. Before heat treatment most steels are a mixture
of three substances: ferrite, pearlite, and cementite. Ferrite is iron containing
small amounts of carbon and other elements in solution and is soft and ductile.
Cementite, a compound of iron containing about 7 % carbon, is extremely
brittle and hard. Pearlite is an intimate mixture of ferrite and cementite having a
specific composition and characteristic structure, and physical characteristics
intermediate between its two constituents. The toughness and hardness of steel
that is not heat treated depend on the proportions of these three ingredients. As
the carbon content of a steel increases, the amount of ferrite present decreases
and the amount of pearlite increases until, when the steel has 0.8 % of carbon, it
is entirely composed of pearlite. Steel with still more carbon is a mixture of
pearlite and cementite. Raising the temperature of steel changes ferrite and
pearlite to an allotropic form of iron-carbon alloy known as austenite, which has
the property of dissolving all the free carbon present in the metal. If the steel is
cooled slowly the austenite reverts to ferrite and pearlite, but if cooling is
sudden, the austenite is “frozen” or changes to martensite, which is an
extremely hard allotropic modification that resembles ferrite but contains
carbon in solid solution.

3.7 HEAT TREATMENT OF STEEL

The basic process of hardening steel by heat treatment consists of heating the

metal to a temperature at which austenite is formed, usually about 760° to 870°
C (about 1,400° to 1,600° F) and then cooling, or quenching, it rapidly in water
or oil. Such hardening treatments, which form martensite, set up large internal

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strains in the metal, and these are relieved by tempering, or annealing, which
consists of reheating the steel to a lower temperature. Tempering results in a
decrease in hardness and strength and an increase in ductility and toughness.

The primary purpose of the heat-treating process is to control the amount, size,

shape, and distribution of the cementite particles in the ferrite, which in turn
determines the physical properties of the steel.

Many variations of the basic process are practiced. Metallurgists have

discovered that the change from austenite to martensite occurs during the latter
part of the cooling period and that this change is accompanied by a change in
volume that may crack the metal if the cooling is too swift. Three comparatively
new processes have been developed to avoid cracking. In time-quenching the
steel is withdrawn from the quenching bath when it has reached the temperature
at which the martensite begins to form, and is then cooled slowly in air. In
martempering the steel is withdrawn from the quench at the same point, and is
then placed in a constant-temperature bath until it attains a uniform temperature
throughout its cross section. The steel is then allowed to cool in air through the
temperature range of martensite formation, which for most steels is the range
from about 288° C (about 550° F) to room temperature. In austempering the
steel is quenched in a bath of metal or salt maintained at the constant
temperature at which the desired structural change occurs and is held in this
bath until the change is complete before being subjected to the final cooling.

Other methods of heat treating steel to harden it are used. In case hardening, a

finished piece of steel is given an extremely hard surface by heating it with
carbon or nitrogen compounds. These compounds react with the steel, either
raising the carbon content or forming nitrides in its surface layer. In carburizing,
the piece is heated in charcoal or coke, or in carbonaceous gases such as
methane or carbon monoxide. Cyaniding consists of hardening in a bath of
molten cyanide salt to form both carbides and nitrides. In nitriding, steels of
special composition are hardened by heating them in ammonia gas to form alloy
nitrides.

CHAPTER 4

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STEEL MILL SAFETY REGULATIONS.

4.1 Health and Safety Hazards

For construction crews working in steel plants, there are many hazards. The
following points summarize the main hazard areas.
1) Pinch points and moving equipment.
o Transportation equipment
Bulk material handling and transport is a major activity for a steel mill. There
are railroad systems with tracks all over the plant, hot metal cars, transfer cars,
buggies, charging cars, hopper cars, scrapers, coil carriers, slab carriers, and
many others.
o Overhead cranes
Overhead cranes form an integral part of operating and maintenance practice
throughout a steel mill. Many hazards are associated with their use, including
overhead loads, hot metal splash, equipment failure, communication
breakdown, and the fact that crane operators may not be aware of construction
workers in unexpected locations.
o Operating equipment
Production equipment may operate on a timed basis, it may be remote-
controlled, or operators may not expect non-operating personnel on site.
Construction personnel must learn plant safety practices, alarms, access
requirements and limitations, and emergency procedures for whichever section
of the mill they must enter. They must follow these procedures.

2) Explosion and burn hazards

Spatters or spills of molten material are an obvious source of burns and fires.
Contact between molten metal or slag and moisture will result in violent
explosions and spattering of molten material. A network of piping transports
fuel gases and oxygen around the plant – all of which have a potential for
explosion and fire. Sparks and fires around oxygen lines are especially
hazardous. One area of a steel mill with a high fire hazard is the coke oven by-
product plant, which shares many characteristics with oil refineries.

3) Health and hygiene hazards

Plant operating practices and precautions must be followed at all times. The
contents of all storage and piping systems should be determined. MSDSs should
be obtained and reviewed in advance. Information should be readily available
from the client/mill operators. The table on the next page relates various
locations in a steel mill to the health hazards they pose.

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 o Chemical Hazards
The following is a list of the major chemical hazards present in steel mills
identified in the table and their effects. It is not intended to be comprehensive.
Chemicals and chemical processes may vary from plant to plant.
 Acids
• pickling and tinning lines and acid regeneration plants (hydrochloric)
• Hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid
• Highly corrosive, can be dangerously reactive in high concentrations
 Ammonia
• Very irritating to the eyes, nose and throat
• High exposure can cause choking and breathing difficulties
• Coke oven by-products plant.
 Asbestos
• can be present in blast furnace and stoves, by-products plant, steam,
generation (either central or waste heat boilers)
• Asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer
 By-product plant light oil
• containing chemicals such as benzene and naphthalene and minor amounts of
toluene and xylene
• Coke oven by-products
• Acute effects - typical solvent effects, central nervous system depression
• Chronic effects - carcinogens (cancer-causing agents); some cause liver and
kidney damage.
 Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Odourless, colourless, poisonous gas
• makes up a large part of fuel gases (22-30% of blast furnace gas, 5-10% of
coke oven gas)
• Many hazardous locations, especially around blast furnaces – also coke ovens
and steelmaking
• can leak out from tops of blast furnaces, around hot stoves, pipelines; can
occur due to sudden shutdown of blowing engines, boiler rooms, ventilation
fans, and from insufficient gas removal during electrostatic precipitator
cleaning.
 Coal tar pitch volatiles
• Coke oven by-products plant
• Skin irritant, cancer of the lung, skin, and scrotum
• Photosensitive dermatitis.
 Coke oven emissions
• In the vicinity of the coke oven batteries
• A “designated substance” in Ontario, carcinogenic
• There must be a control/monitoring program.
 Coke oven gas
• High in carbon monoxide and may contain trace amounts of carcinogens

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• Contents can include benzene (0.4%), H2S, and hydrogen cyanide.
 Dusts
• Iron oxide: (found in sinter plant, before blast furnace, and around
steelmaking) in addition to being irritating to eyes, this causes ciderosis, which
is a specifically named type of pneumoconiosis or obstructive lung disease; i.e.,
dust build-up, not fibrosis
• Coal:
- Irritant to the eyes, etc.
- Pulmonary fibrosis, pneumoconiosis
• Coke:
- There is some suspicion that coke is a carcinogen
• Silica:
- Silicosis
- Refractory brick lined furnaces and ladles
- may occur as dust at sinter plant,
Primarily during furnace repair
• iron chloride- around hydrochloric acid regeneration
•dust: plant
- Respiratory tract irritant to some people.
 Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S)
• Around coke oven batteries
• Toxic gas (500-700 ppm can be instantly fatal)
• Rotten egg smell at very low concentrations - below 100 ppm
• Explosive at high concentrations.
 Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
- cleaning lines (tinning)
- Corrosive.
 Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
• Blast furnace slag pits
• gas irritating to eyes, nose, and throat
• Overexposure can cause choking and breathing difficulties
• Delayed reaction to overexposure can be fluid build-up in the lungs.

4.2 Other Health Hazards

o Heat
Heat is generated and used all over a steel plant. Care must be taken to control
overexposure. This can come in the form of extreme radiant heat in many
locations where there are hot or molten materials. Care must be exercised in
these places. There are also many locations where strenuous work may have to

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be done in hot locations. Heat stroke can be a constant risk, especially during
warm weather. See the chapter on Heat Stress in this manual.
o Noise
Noise is a hazard at many locations in a steel mill. Hearing protection is often
required and warning signs are posted. High noise levels exist, for example,
around the tuyeres in the blast furnaces or any rolling mills. For guidelines on
noise exposure and hearing protection, refer to the chapter on Personal
Protective Equipment in this manual.
o General
Before work begins, crews should receive training in the hazards existing in the
work area and obtain and review the material safety data sheets for any
hazardous materials to which they may be exposed. These should be readily
available from the client or owner and, in fact, should be obtained at the time of
bidding to facilitate job planning. Any protective equipment used should at least
equal that worn by the client's workers in the area.
o Piping systems
The contents of piping systems, storage bins, and tanks should be known and
identified. Know the system of identification and warning used by the owner.
These may vary from one plant to another.
o Confined spaces
Special attention must always be paid to confined space entry. Always comply
with the Construction Regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91) as a minimum.
The steel mill will usually have an entry permit system and requirements for
entry and work in confined spaces. Welding in any confined space must be done
with precautions. Pay special attention in cases where welding is being done on
stainless steel, since the chromium released is a possible cause of lung cancer.

4.3 Emergency Procedures

The steel mill has an emergency procedure in place. All workers are expected to
know the warning alarm signals and follow the procedures.

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REFERENCE

Health Hazard Manual

The Metallurgical Centre, Jos

Guidelines in a Steel mill.

Samuel M. Allen

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights

reserved.

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