EAF-Water Cooling

The production of liquid steel, due to its elevated temperature, requires a vessel that contains both slag and liquid steel and retain as much heat as possible. Refractory materials are employed to fulfill these functions, however due to the large amount of heat radiated from the electric arcs and formation of hot spots with very high temperatures, made conventional refractories unsuitable under long arc operation conditions. Water cooled panels have replaced refractories in several parts of the EAF, in particular shell and roof. They can sustain high temperatures but still the heat losses can be high. This chapter evaluates the design of water-cooled panels in order to decrease heat losses which contribute to decrease the consumption of energy.