PRODUCTION OF STAINLESS STEEL BY TOP-AND-BOTTOM-BLOWN CONVERTER.

At Kawasaki Chiba Works, a new 80 t UHP melting furnace (MF) was erected and the existing LD converter was converted into a top-and-bottom-blown converter (K-BOP) for stainless steel production. The erection of the new UHP MF was aimed at widening the scope of selection of steelmaking raw materials whose costs represent a large proportion of the stainless steel production costs. Owing to this change, a significant increase in productivity and cost reduction were achieved. Studies of the reaction model and standardization regarding the decarburizing practice and metallurgical behavior during the reduction period are also presented.