Four Ways Nitrogen Affects Your Shop

thanks for breaking that down Milo

Interesting. I'd like to learn more. Unfortunately the link (here) did not work...

Thanks for the heads up on the broken link! http://www.productionmachining.com/articles/role-of-nitrogen-in-free-machining-carbon-steels Milo

That worked - Thanks

Dick

Quote, 'That supplier's melt process is a major factor in determining the nitrogen content that you get in the shop.'

More importantly the ladle met stage after melting - at least in an EAF and with the qualities of steel you are talking about anyway.

Clearly the BOF process atmosphere over the melt is saturated with Oxygen, so not so much Nitrogen availability for pick up.

EAF- melt in air, where majority of atmosphere is Nitrogen.

Not so much controlled in Ladle met, unless adding high nitro ferroalloys for trim, in my experience.

Thanks for the comments Russ123.

Milo

Actually N2 is controlled in vacuum degassing downstream of the ladle met furnace for the grades where it is important.

The newer EAF shops around the world are setup to make high quality steel as compared to most in the US or Europe. The higher grades are where the money is at while construction grade steel is a break even or possibly even a money loser for new plants much of the time.

Yes Vacuum degasser. I did not know what you meant in ladle met, but VD, I get it.

The issue of cost competitiveness is not just wedded to quality. It is more correlated with work rules and capital structure. NUCOR ran for years making profits on mostly what could be called "commodity" grades. But they were (and are) a formidable competitor.

They have always used technology(to your point) and very leanly staffed operation s ( to mine.) They have used technology to take over some attractive product niches. Their cost structure made their prices so attractive that many customers challenged their engineers and operations folks to figure out a way to make their commodity type product work, and in a lot of cases they did. But in some they didn't.

Which brings us to the role of the market. The steels needed for airbag parts or certain aircraft components require exceptional cleanliness. Yet the market for these is not sufficient to "fill the mill" so the highest quality boys need additional tonnage volume. Thus, perhaps, selling closer to costs to try to get tons to "scale up" the order book.

And lets not forget government subsidies.

Many us shops have very high productivities, (low man hours per ton) and highly automated efficient, high tech processes. But still higher cost per ton steel from countries whose governments subsidize, support, with tariff or non tariff barriers, their own steel industries ends up being sold or "dumped" to the more efficient domestic producer's disadvantage.

Greenhouse gas per tonne is another indicator which the market seems to ignore as it buys steel and steel products from a certain country which produces about 1/2 the world's steel and produces that steel at very high rates of greenhouse gas production in the process.

Milo

Where I was in India there were real obstacles in the path of the project owners such as:

1) Build the plants

2) Build power generating capacity plus pay for extending the grid to the power plant

3) Build the gas pipeline from landfall to the plant site

4) Build the water line and pumping stations to get process water

5) Build the port facilities to handle the ore including stock yards, mini-bulk carriers, unloaders, stackers, reclaimers etc- handling approximately 20 million MTYPY is no minor thing.

6) Build the township for workers to live including homes, medical facilities including hospital, shopping, school, guest houses etc. The payroll included doctors, teachers and on and on to make it possible for people to live close to the plant and distant from town.

The most important department in the steel mill was the 'product development' group - always trying to develop procedures and practices to allow access to new markets.

Many of the costs of producing steel, in India for example, a US congressman doesn't even consider to be costs but they are real. The Indian government mills received great subsidies - nothing more than a rat hole to pour money down while private companies could not access the same.

Nucor didn't have the legacy costs the older mills did and did great at not letting them get started. They ran an excellent operation.

Thanks!

Milo