Emerging technologies for iron and steelmaking

The iron and steel industry has undergone a technological revolution in the last 40 years. In a relatively short time, the North American industry has observed the complete disappearance of basic open hearth processing, as well as the wide spread adoption of continuous casting and the near complete shift of long product production to the electric arc furnace sector. These and other developments have dramatically affected the way steel is made, the price, quality and range of products generated, and changed the basic structure of the industry. The same trends can be observed in other industrialized nations and are reflected in the global industry as well. Competitive forces and market globalization will continue to drive the development and adoption of new iron and steelmaking technologies well into the 21st century. Industry response to specific local and global technology drivers will likely result in both incremental improvements in existing technologies, and in major developments in several key areas including direct iron making and near net shape casting. Editor’s Note: A hypertext-enhanced version of this article can be found at www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0110/Manning-0110.html.