Steelmaking

The production of Steel from pig-iron means the removal of most impurities – especially Carbon, Manganese, Silicon, Phosphorous and Sulfur. Pig-Iron is brittle and when heated it melts suddenly instead of slowly. These properties are due to the high carbon content whose removal is the major aim of refining steel.

There are different methods to refine steel. The most used methods today are basic oxygen steelmaking and electric arc steelmaking. Older methods like Bessemer, Thomas or Siemens-Martin method are rarely used today.