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.

The initial solidification in the continuous casting process can be controlled by imposing a pulsative AC electromagnetic field on the meniscus. The casting experiment of a steel billet has been conducted by using a commercial billet caster. The imposition of a pulsative AC electromagnetic field has greatly improved the surface qualities. This presentation provides the results of the electromagnetic casting project of JRCM which is supported financially by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan.

Sun Coke Company's heat recovery cokemaking technology has been developed over the past 40 years, and is now poised to become the dominant technology to meet future global cokemaking needs. An extensive data base regarding coal blends tested and resultant coke quality will be presented. On the environmental front, extensive air emission data has been collected and will be compared to by-product coke plant air emission data.

The Business Intelligence (BI) aims at providing the operational, tacticand strategic levels with information in order to support managersand specialists through the practice of analysis and decisionmaking. The results of the project pertaining to the steel makingplant are reported.

At the design stage of engineering structures, the fatigue behaviour is generally not included in the analysis. Shoulder reinforcements may be machined with too small blending radii. Even if fatigue is taken into account, the influence of the environment is almost always ignored. This paper shows that corrosion-fatigue is not an uncommon cause of failure in industry and that it may result in significant damages. The survey of such failures and the observation of the fracture surfaces allow to identify the typical features of this phenomenon.

A new on-line guidance tool has been implemented to help the mill operator with the achievement of a thickness performance that meets the ever more stringent requirements for DWI material. The tool makes it possible to analyse the causes of thickness defects that are originated by the HSM or by the tandem mill.

The high temperature oxidation behaviour of cast superalloys strengthened by carbides has been studied as a function of their grain fineness and their dendritic orientation near the surface. These microstructural features have both a significant influence on the oxidation kinetics. The effect depends on the nature of the base metal of the superalloy, on the overall chemical composition or on the types of carbides.

A new filler material, a stabilized ferritic welding wire, has been developed for the joining of the stabilized ferritic stainless steel sheets increasingly used in automotive exhaust systems. The joints obtained in the GMAW and GTAW processes behave at least as well in service as those obtained with austenitic filler wires. The new welding grade can also be applied to produce heterogeneous assemblies.

Les aciers inoxydables ferritiques connaissent un développement régulier depuis de nombreuses années, en partie grâce aux variations importantes du coût des éléments d’alliage et notamment du nickel qui impactent fortement le prix des nuances austénitiques classiques. Toutefois, il ne faut pas négliger les avantages techniques que présentent les nuances ferritiques. Cet article présente une série d’exemples illustrant les performances des aciers inoxydables ferritiques dans des domaines d’applications variés et souligne la large gamme de propriétés qui peuvent être obtenues.

A technique, which allows characterizing the local strain field over a domain representative of the microstructure of a heterogeneous material, is described. It is based on scanning electron microscopy, microelectrolithography, image analysis and in situ mechanical tests. On one hand, in relation with a microstructure analysis, it allows characterizing the different mechanisms responsible for the plasticity or the damage of materials. On the other hand, a quantitative analysis allows comparing and validating from a local to a global scale, the different models used for the prediction of materials constitutive laws. Finally, the knowledge of the experimental displacement improves seriously the results of finite element computations, by a better determination of the boundary conditions.

Life Cycle Assessment is a powerful method to compare thefull environmental burden assignable to products, services orprocesses. In the framework of ULCOS project, this methodwas chosen to assess the environmental burden of futureiron and steel making processes. We propose here a novelmethodology which consists in replacing the traditional datacollection by a rigorous physico-chemical calculation. Suchan approach allows precise environmental assessment ofexisting or future processes.

The newly developed VAI-CONR Chem system allows to determine continuously the chemical composition of liquid steel in any metallurgical vessel. It represents an enormous potential for process improvements. After extensive laboratory testing, the system was sucessfully tested at an industrial vacuum degassing plant. At the beginning of 2003, it will be installed at a new AOD converter.

The technology of slag processing by rotary cylinder at Baosteel has many advantages, such as short flow, higher efficiency, more safety, lower consumptions etc. Processed slag has stable properties and small but symmetrical granules, lower contents of free-CaO, and it can be used directly in many areas.

After presentation of the history of oxygen steelmaking, with special emphasis on the LD process, the numerous further developments and variants of the converter process are discussed. Finally, a tentative synthesis between electric and converter steelmaking is proposed. The article ends with considerations on the future of oxygen converter technology.

Pour améliorer la tenue mécanique à la fatigue polycyclique des matériaux de fonderie, laCompaction Isostatique à Chaud (CIC) peut être utilisée. Elle consiste en un traitementthermomécanique des pièces moulées afin de refermer, complètement ou partiellement, lesdéfauts initiaux qu’elles contiennent. On propose ici d’utiliser des mesuresd’auto-échauffement sous chargements cycliques et un modèle associé pour caractériser legain en tenue à la fatigue apporté par le procédé CIC sur un alliage cupro-aluminium defonderie.

The present status of thin slab hot rolling (TSHR) technology is reviewed, with the emphasis on installations in operation or under construction in Asia. Core technologies required to manufacture steel products are EAF or BOF steelmaking, specific continuous casters, hot rolling practices preventing the formation of edge cracks or surface defects. TSHR can produce as well economical commercial products as high grade products. The main advantages of this route are presented and ways to overcome some of its limitations are suggested.

The evolution toward equilibrium of the supersaturated Pb-1.5%Cd-0.15%Ag-1.25%Sn alloy has been studied by various techniques, such as hardness, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe. The explored temperatures are 20 and 80°C. The precipitation hardening mechanisms of this alloy are similar to those of silver-free alloys. The as-quenched structure transforms toward equilibrium in a two stage process. In the first stage, called ageing, two transformations take place at the same time: a continuous hardening precipitation and a discontinuous, incomplete, softening transformation. The second stage is characterized by a discontinuous lamellar reprecipitation. The microstructure of this alloy is characterized by the presence of Ag5Cd8 precipitates and of zones corresponding to the eutectic mixture. The main effect of silver is to increase hardness by about 2 HV.

Dynamic modeling, as an effective decision support tool, is illustratedby the coupling of two continuous lines. The method stands outas general and easily transferable. Modeling makes it possible toassess the impact of various managerial decisions within a globalindustrial environment. Modeling is a preferred tool to extract knowledgefrom data bases, to formulate and to test new ideas.

The control of oxygen and fossil fuels injections, taking into accountreal furnace conditions at each step of the melt, is essential for EAFimprovement. Based on near IR Laser- diode spectroscopy, a systemenabling dynamic and continuous CO and CO2 monitoring of EAFfumes during the whole melt for long-term operations has been developed.Several industrial trials are reported, the technology is describedand the results are discussed.

The FSBA (Flexible Shaft Backing Assemblies) has been developedfor a 20-high Sendzimir mill. This new shape control actuator wassupported by a shape analysis model based on the distribution ofgeometrical moment of inertia in the roll axial direction. The shapecontrol range was doubly extended by the introduction of FSBA. Itwas confirmed on an industrial mill that quarter buckles are suppressedunder a wide range of rolling conditions by shape control withFSBA and concave rolls.