The present work describes some steps made in order to increase the casting speed of low carbon and peritectic steel grades produced in CST machine No. 1, without further investments. Some constraints of casting speed discussed in this work include: metallurgical length, secondary cooling, mould powder and chemical composition. Results on quality are presented, comparing slabs produced under the new proposal and the standard casting speed. As a conclusion, it was possible to obtain an additional production capacity of around 110,000 t/year keeping the same quality standard.

The development of high tensile strength steels with higher levels of alloying elements needs the implementation of operating means in the continuous casting machine to master slabs internal soundness and surface quality. In order to define optimal process parameters according to the characteristics of the different continuous casting machines and to optimize the revamping of older equipment, thermomechanical modelling of the steel slab behaviour during casting has been carried out. This paper presents the results of simulations performed to check the potential of this modelling.

An increase in the continuous-casting capacity of a steel mill requires either the upgrading of existing machines or an investment in a new caster. However, space restrictions may prevent the installation of a new caster within an existing steel mill. The VAI compact caster introduced in this paper is designed to enable steel producers increase their casting output and production flexibility with the installation of a highly compact caster within the restricted space of an existing steel mill. With this solution, two independently cast and controlled small-width slabs or a single wide-width slab can be cast with the same equipment.

Data from the Rautaruukki Raahe sinter plant were analyzed with feed-forward neural networks. The resulting models were used to investigate and optimize the sinter plant production rate and the reduction degradation index (RDI) that is an important sinter quality indicator for small blast furnaces. Especially, the effects of controllable parameters such as the chemical composition of sinter, physical conditions of raw materials and factors reflecting the sintering event were studied.

The slag corrosion resistance of MgO-MgAl2O4, MgO-MgAl2O4-ZrO2, MgO-MgAl2O4-TiO2 and MgO-ZrO2 materials has been studied according to the slag corrosion extent and the change of slag chemical composition. The results were compared to those of the MgO-Cr2O3 refractory used for the RH low vessel. It can be concluded that, among the chromium-free materials tested above, the MgO-ZrO2 refractory will be better for the RH vacuum vessel.

An experimental study has been performed at CRM with impinging burners to heat quickly low carbon steels without oxidizing their surfaces. The thermal performances of various burners (maximum heat transfer of ~370 kW/m2 on impinged surface) were studied and compared to data collected from classical direct flame furnaces. Simulations permit to consider an interesting reduction of furnace size. The surface characterization indicates the possibility to heat steel strip without oxidizing up to 840°C. It would then be possible to anneal steel strips at higher temperature than it is actually performed in the direct flame furnaces.

Normalized steels are widely used in the pressure equipment industry and most of the safety rules have been established based on the properties of these steels. In the past, the use of quenched and tempered steels was limited to the biggest pressure vessels to achieve the mechanical properties at quarter or mid-thickness. The paper describes three examples of use of QT steels manufactured by Industeel and used in PWHT or in as-welded condition: the use of CARELSO 355 HRS (P355QL type) for pressure vessels operating in sour service and resistant to the SOHIC phenomenon; the use of SUPERELSO 500 HR (P500QL type) for pressure vessels operating in sour service (separators, scrubbers...) but when weight saving is of major importance; the use of SUPERELSO 702 for the racks of jack-up platforms and the results of P690QL steel grade in ECOPRESS research.

The effect of a high magnetic field on the isothermal ferrite formation in Fe-0.15 wt.% C alloy has been evaluated by quantitative microscopy analysis. The isothermal ferrite transformation is accelerated under magnetic field, mainly because of an increase in the nucleation rate of ferrite.