New steels for new mills

摘要

Thin-slab casting technology has profoundlychanged the economics of steel production. In-line conversionof liquid metal into a finished product is accompanied by aseries of cost-reducing steps. Because of low capital investmentand high productivity, the new process has gained rapidworldwide acceptance. It is well suited for production ofmicroalloyed high-strength low-allow steels. In steels containingvanadium, nitrogen is converted from impurity into a cost-effective alloy. In view of their low cost, and weigh-reducingpotential, vanadium-microalloyed steels may be andeconomically attractive replacement of plain carbon steels.