Steel plant tests on the melting and dissolution behaviour of low density ferromolybdenum in steel melts

Reducing the conversion costs per t of steel is more than ever a challenge for the steel industry in worldwide competition. This figure is effected by several parameters. Apart from process optimization aiming at quality impr ovement and cost minimization, the suppliers of both steelmaking and foundr y industry are increasingly asked to support this trend with innovations an d cost reductions. The use of ferroalloys with high melting points as ferrotungsten, ferrovana dium and ferromolybdenum as an alloying agent in steel plants, causes probl ems which were connected to the bad dissolution behaviour and the inhomogen eity of the material. Big scale application tests with a newly developed grade of ferromolybdenum with lower density were performed in an integrated steel plant, and the re sults were compared to the behaviour of standard material. It can be seen t hat the new grade of ferromolybdenum has a higher homogeneity, improved yie ld and dissolves faster in liquid steel than standard ferromolybdenum. The results will be interpreted by a process model.