Improvement in the quality of cast steel is based on the application of
secondary metallurgy methods. The differences in the techniques used partly result
from the capacities of melting furnaces and ladles. In small casting ladles, the
temperature of the molten steel falls much faster, which requires attention to timescales
with respect to argon blowing or standing in vacuum, or else additional heating of the
metal in the ladle. For these reasons, typical techniques for foundries have been
presented, such as argon stirring, AOD, VOD, VD, LF and DETEM. For each
technique, the benefits and effects of its use in practice have been given.
Keywords: Argon blowing, Decarburisation, Degassing, Desulphurisation,
Vacuum technologies.
