Process for producing foudry iron
AssigneeAlabama Power Company
InventorCharles F. Hendrix
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A submerged arc furnace produces foundry iron from scrap iron and steel sources where little or no slag is produced. Scrap iron or steel is fed into the submerged arc furnace with a source of silica and a carbonaceous reducing agent. The scrap iron and steel is melted while simultaneously smelting the silica in the presence of the carbonaceous reducing agent. The amount of the silica source and carbonaceous reducing agent are added in an amount to selectively control the silicon and carbon content of the resulting foundry iron.
Claims34
A process of producing foundry iron comprising the steps of:
- feeding a charge into a submerged arc furnace about electrodes thereof, said charge comprising a mixture of an iron source, a silicon source and a carbonaceous reducing agent, said iron source comprising scrap iron or steel,
- supplying electrical energy to said electrodes to generate an electrical arc therebetween, and
- heating the scrap iron or steel, the silicon source and the carbonaceous reducing agent in the furnace by the electrical arc between the electrodes to melt the scrap iron or steel and to produce foundry iron having a silicon content of about 0.05 percent to about 9.5 percent by weight.
A continuous process of producing foundry iron comprising the steps of:
- continuously feeding a charge comprising a mixture of scrap iron or steel, a silica source and a carbonaceous reducing agent into a submerged arc furnace about electrodes thereof,
- supplying electrical energy to the electrodes to generate an electrical arc therebetween, and
- melting said scrap iron or steel and simultaneously smelting said silica source in the presence of said carbonaceous reducing agent by the electrical arc between the electrodes to produce silicon and to produce foundry iron having a silicon content of about 0.05 percent to about 9.5 percent by weight and a carbon content of about 0.01 percent to about 4.5 percent by weight substantially in the absence of slag.
A continuous process of producing foundry iron comprising the steps of:
- continuously feeding a charge comprising a mixture of scrap iron or steel, a silica source and a carbonaceous reducing agent into a DC submerged arc furnace about at least one electrode thereof to form a charge bed,
- supplying electrical energy to the electrode to generate an electrical arc, and
- melting said scrap iron or steel and simultaneously smelting said silica source in the presence of said carbonaceous reducing agent by the electrical arc to produce silicon and to produce foundry iron having a silicon content of about 0.05 percent to about 9.5 percent by weight and a carbon content of about 0.01 percent to about 4.5 percent by weight substantially in the absence of slag.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.