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Abstract
A new steel-smelting technology has been developed on the basis of an improved ladle-treatment system. In this system, the batch is melted, and the melt is heated from above by electrical arcs and from below by gas-air or gas-oxygen flames. Natural gas and air or oxygen are sent to the flames simultaneously through one channel of a single casting-ladle gate; throughout smelting, inert gas is injected from below through the other gate channel until casting begins. At the end of smelting, the refining reagents are injected by the same means. In the course of smelting, decarburization of the liquid steel may be accompanied by carburization, depending on the total carbon content in the natural gas and on the ratio of natural gas and air or oxygen.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]