Definitions for "Electric Arc Furnace"
Since the second World War, this has been the standard furnace for melting steel in large quantities. Typical Capacities are 80 to 120 Tonnes. They were generally used as direct replacements for Siemens Open Hearth Furnaces. Low Voltage, High Current electricity arcs between three large electrodes hung from the lid of the furnace and the metal on the furnace hearth. This produces very intense heating in the centre of the furnace, in a similar way to arc welding. The heating can be very accurately controlled and as there are no 'products of combustion' (smoke and flame) within the furnace high quality steels are easily produced.
A steelmaking furnace which predominantly uses scrap as an iron source. The furnace houses either one or three graphite electrodes from which an electric arc can be generated to provide heat to melt the steel scrap. Electricity can be applied either as direct current (DC), where only one electrode is required, or alternate current (AC), where three electrodes are required. These two types of furnaces are respectively known as DC furnace and AC furnace. Our factory operates a DC Finger Shaft Furnace with an 80-tonne capacity per heat.
In this furnace the heating is by means of an electric arc shot between graphite electrodes and the metal charge.