Basic Oxygen Steelmaking
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Steel is a heterogenous material which consists primarily of iron. The steelmaking process involves removing carbon and other impurities from pig iron and scrap. During the nineteenth century, Henry Bessemer noted that this could be achieved by blowing air through the molten metal. It wasn't until the mid-twentieth century though, that metallurgists began using oxygen instead of air. Top-blown basic oxygen converters eventually gave way to combination top- and bottom-blown furnaces. The introduction of this technology created concern about the effects of oxygen on finished steel products. Various studies have clearly demonstrated how oxide inclusions can adversely alter the physical properties of metal. Fortunately, basic oxygen steelmaking incorporates procedures for removing most of the dissolved oxygen. Over the past few decades, several advanced technologies have been introduced to steelmaking methods. Contributions from different fields of basic science have altered nearly every aspect of the process. Such changes have particularly affected steel refining (5:540-546). Steelmaking essentially uses combustion to remove carbon and other impurities from pig iron and scrap (4:13). The primary ingredient of steel is iron. However, iron ore generally contains iron and oxygen, as well as a variety of other elements. The oxygen--as well as some of the other impurities--may be removed by heating iron ore with c
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ced. Eventually, this advance led to the development of top- and bottom-blown vessels. Over time, these combined converters have become very common.
The use of oxygen in the steelmaking process inspired numerous scientific investigations. Since the quality of a particular batch of steel depends considerably on the types and quantities of gases present, metallurgists have focused their attention on the overall effects of mixing molten steel with oxygen (3:56-62). Within a furnace, oxygen can be measured by means of an oxygen probe (8:40DD). It has been observed that the oxygen content of a given heat is similar regardless of whether or not the metal is blown with pure oxygen. As with the open hearth furnace, blowing oxygen into liquid metal increases its concentration only to the point whereby it begins to react with carbon. Once the reaction with carbon is initiated, the concentration of oxygen in the heat starts to fall rapidly. The oxygen equilibrium that is eventually achieved will ultimately depend on the metal's carbon content. In fact, at the end of the oxidizing period, the slag derived from melts made with oxygen may even contain less iron oxide than those derived from ore (3:56-62).
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2586
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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