The CM100 and it's introduction onto the blast furnace coke feed conveyor allows the operators to correctly calculate the dry weight of coke being used, which provides them with better thermal control, and improved chemistry control of the molten iron, which also has benefits for other areas of the plant.

The policy adopted by Belgo Monlevade Steel Works, Arcelor Mittal in order to reduce the waste amount sent to the industrial landfill is presented. The focus of this policy is to increase the internal reutilization of the waste generated in the steel making process. The implemented actions and the projected actions in order to increase the internal reutilization, saving natural resources and reducing costs are reported.

The clogging of the Submerged Entry Nozzle (SEN) during billet continuous casting of mid-carbon steel is studied. Clogging materials and inclusions in steel samples taken at ladles, tundish and billets are investigated. The total oxygen on the whole section of the billet is measured. Steel cleanliness at unsteady casting states, including cast start, ladle change, SEN change, cast end, and the special unsteady pouring period induced by SEN clogging, are studied. Fluid flow and inclusion motion and entrapment to SEN surface are also simulated.

Principle and technological design of electroslag continuous casting (ESCC), including bifilar mode, T-shaped mould and metal level detecting system are detailed. Remelting is carried out for a Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel with ESCC. The surface finish, chemical composition, macro and microstructures, and inclusions of remelted billets are characterized. ESCC reduces cost and increases productivity in comparison to the traditional ESR, while achieves comparably excellent products.

Optimization of deoxidizer sequencing, such as Al and Ti, is an important topic which can provide improvement in terms of inclusion composition and process stability. Nevertheless, modeling inclusion nucleation and growth in a ladle is still a challenge, since different complex mechanisms are involved. The paper describes key steps which involve an important modeling investigation. The first step deals with deoxidizer melting in a turbulent steel bath. The second is devoted to nucleation and growth of inclusions: thermodynamics criteria for inclusion precipitation and turbulent agglomeration of clusters should be simultaneously considered.

A review of the degassing process, including basic principles, is done followed by the assessment of castability issues. Steelmaking practices that could lead to potential plugging in the submerged entry nozzles at the casters are outlined. The steel cleanliness is discussed for a select steel grade including a brief review of inclusion characterization.

Tensile tests on a ultra high strength steel under in situ X ray tomography made it possible to observe and to quantify 3D damage of this material. The analysis of the data gives access to the main features of cavities (density and size) as well as local strains and triaxiality within the whole tensile specimen. Based on these results, a new damage model has been put forward that is noticeable by integrating cavity nucleation into the classical Rice and Tracey approach. The predictions of the new model fit significantly better with the experimental results.