Slag Foaming

Slag foaming is the most important variable to control and reduce energy consumption in the EAF, not only because is focused on achieving a higher thermal efficiency which decreases the total energy consumption but due to additional multiple benefits. In spite of the ancient knowledge on foaming, this technique was not applied extensively in the EAF before the 1990s.  Slag foaming is based on a simple phenomena; the formation and retention of bubbles in the slag which in practice requires the control of a large number of variables. This chapter attempts to provide a summary on the fundamentals on foaming, slag foaming, its measurement, a discussion of models that predict foaming, industrial reports on foaming and the challenges that still remain in this field.