Since 1953, under successive 5-year development plans, the structure and the production level of the Chinese steel industry has considerably changed. Although the share of flat products has increased, China remains a net importer of these products and other high value added products. In connection with the development of the consuming industries, the Chinese steel industry is undergoing important transformations, in structure, technology, capacity and efficiency.

LKAB's experimental blast furnace with a hearth diameter of 1.2 m and a working volume of 8.2 m3 produces approximatively 35 tons of hot metal/day and, not the least, valuable information. The furnace is used for the evaluation of burden materials and combinations as well as of modified or new blast furnace operational concepts and equipments. Nine campaigns ranging from 6 to 11 weeks have been performed since the start up in 1997.

Sollac Lorraine is equipped with two bottom blowing converters which are the bottleneck of the steel shop. A dynamic guide based on a temperature measurement of the metal during blowing and an original use of the analysis of the gases coming out of the converter permit tapping immediately at the end of the blowing. The industrial start up of this process in July 2001 has resulted in an increase in converter productivity and efficiency.

The modular VAI-CON system developed by VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI) is a highly effective solution for reducing slag carry-over at converter tapping. It operates automatically and is characterized by long-term availability, high service life and great accuracy. It contributes to a significant reduction of operational and maintenance costs.

Together with the company Lafarge Refractories GmbH, a new concept was introduced for wear lining of the steel ladle bottom. The disadvantages of the monolithic wear lining used in the 90s were eliminated by the introduction of the so-called quasi-monolithic bottom. Several dried pieces of tabular-alumina-spinel-material are put into the bottom as a puzzle and spilled with each other. The special feature of these precast pieces is not only the use of material of different grain sizes, but also different grain forms in a specific ratio to each other. The bottom of a test ladle was repaired 18 times by casting a self flowing tabular-alumina-spinel castable, what led to clear cost savings. Since the end of 1999, all big ladles at Stahlwerk Bous are converted to this quasi-monolithic bottom. The resulting advantages are discussed.

In Europe about 600,000 tons of dusts are generated in EAF steelmaking. Valuable metals like zinc, lead, chromium and nickel are recovered from these dusts by external processors, usually. In the past, only few attempts on internal recycling have been made. Within a Brite EuRam II project, the economical and ecological benefits of the internal recycling of EAF dusts from engineering grades steelmaking have been documented. Recent investigations are dealing with the internal recycling of EAF dusts from high-alloy steeImaking, aiming at the recovery of chromium and nickel as well as at an improved foaming of the slag.

Within the framework of a 3.5 million tons production of the Chertal steel plant, the RH unit and the new strand caster will produce about 1 million tons of ULC steel dedicated to automobile body applications. Therefore, some modifications at the RH were decided in 2000. This paper will be articulated in two parts: in the first part, we will present the results obtained with the modified RH installation: decarburization and metallurgical achievements as well as steel reheating capability and performances of the burner. In the second one we will present the new casting working point and focus on the quality results of the RH-CC4 production line.

VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI) has erected and started up an ultra-wide slab caster (up to 3.2 m) in Mobile (Alabama) for the North-American steel producer IPSCO Steel. This paper presents the specific technological features and the automation system of this installation, as well as the initial operational and metallurgical results.

It is necessary for a machine casting products of medium thickness to cast at a speed as high as possible for productivity. But, longitudinal surface cracks and fluctuation of molten steel level increase as the casting speed increases. The peritectic steel grade is most sensitive to such defects and phenomena. Thanks to various technological developments, the peritectic steel grade could be cast at a casting speed of 5.0 m/min, which is the highest used ever.

The recent developments of the Pulse Discrimination Analysis by Optical Emission Spectrometry (PDA-OES) and the application of this technique for static analysis as well as for chemical mapping permit to characterize inclusions or heterogeneities with a size ranging from 2 to 20-30 μm. The present improvements of OES permit the steelmakers to have a more detailed information than by the conventional chemical analysis methods. The fast identification of defects such as inclusions or segregation permits to validate more easily the product quality and to adapt the processes.

The fire resistance of structures is one of the main brakes concerning the development of steel in buildings. This handicap of steel is in order to disappear due to the results of recent researches that permit to dimension the steel structures by considering the natural fire and the active fire fighting measures. In the frame of an ECSC financed research, an interactive calculation software has been developed with the aim of enabling engineering offices to perform easily calculations under natural fire conditions. This paper describes this new tool that should contribute to the promotion of steel by making the dimensioning under fire conditions easier and more competitive.