Past AIST Committee Activities
Current Activities
The Ladle & Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) met during AISTech 2010 in Pittsburgh. Officers were elected as follows: Bruce Barker of Harsco Metals became chair, Ryan Jenkins of The Timken Co. became vice chair, and Greg Brasel of Carbide Industries became papers chair. The LSRTC then reviewed the successful AIST Ladle Refractory Short Course, held in Birmingham, Ala., in March 2010. The program will be repeated on Oct. 12–13, 2010, in Merrillville, Ind., and will be co-located with the AIST Midwest Chapter kickoff dinner. The LSRTC honored the 2010 Ladle & Secondary Refining Best Paper Award winners, Eugene Pretorius, Helmut Oltmann and Thomas Cash, for their paper entitled, “The Effective Modification of Spinel Inclusions by Ca Treatment in LCAK Steel.” The meeting concluded with the presentation of a plaque to Jorg Peter, Cascade Steel, for his service as 2009–2010 LSRTC chair. The next LSRTC meeting will be co-located with the Ladle Refractory Short Course in Merrillville, Ind., on Oct. 12.
The AIST Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) met on March 3, 2010, in Birmingham, Ala., immediately following their inaugural Ladle Refractory Short Course. The meeting was also available via the Internet and teleconference for those unable to travel to Birmingham. Following introductions and reviews of the AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines and staff announcements, the members discussed any safety incidents occurring in the industry. The first item on the agenda was a review of the Ladle Refractory Short Course. The course was well-supported by the steel industry, with 63 attendees. The members briefly reviewed the attendee comments from the short course and gave the course a favorable review. With the limited number of presenters required to hold the short course, the committee plans on holding the short course in October 2010 in the Northwestern Indiana area. The course material will be slightly modified based on the attendee comments, but the overall structure will remain the same. The LSRTC then discussed the status of the their sessions for AISTech. The paper schedule was modified slightly to condense the program into three sessions: refractories, steel refining and degassing. The next meeting will be co-located with the Ladle Refractory Short Course in Northwest Indiana in October 2010.
The Ladle Design Subocmmittee of the Ladle & Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) met on Dec. 1, 2009, to finalize the ballot draft of Technical Report No. 9 — Specification for the Design and Use of Ladles. Middough Inc. hosted the meeting, which was also accessible via the Internet and conference call. The entire draft document was given a final review prior to being sent out for ballot draft for approval. Most of the modifications made to the document during this meeting were grammatical and organizational. In the “Approved Welding Materials” section, SFA-5.34 Nickel Alloy Electrodes for Flux-Cored Arc Welding was added to reflect the approval of the material by ASME as a new standard. For Tilt Linkages, SA 514 Plate Material was added as a material structurally similar to SA 517. In the “Welding” section of the document, information was inserted regarding welding contours to minimize the stress risers in welds during fabrication. Upon receipt and approval of the Design Example Appendix, the document will be sent to the LSRTC for review and comment. The next Ladle Design Subcommittee meeting will follow the review and comment period by the LSRTC.
The Ladle & Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) held their fall meeting at AIST headquarters in Warrendale, Pa., on Oct. 22, 2009. The meeting was also available to its members via the Internet and conference call. Following introductions, a review of the AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines, staff announcements, and a review of steel industry accidents were given. The LSRTC then discussed the upcoming Ladle Refractory Training Seminar. It was determined to co-locate the seminar with the AIST Lubrication Training Seminar in Birmingham, Ala., on March 1–2, 2010. The course outline will remain the same as previously established, but a round table on mid-campaign refractory repairs will be included. The seminar attendees will also be invited to attend the Birmingham Member Chapter event on March 2. The LSRTC then solicited volunteers to review papers from AISTech 2009 for the Ladle & Secondary Refining Best Paper Award. An update was provided by the representatives of the Ladle Design Subcommittee on the status of revisions to Technical Report No. 9. The revisions have been completed, and the document is being prepared for ballot draft approval, after which the document will be prepared for publication. The LSRTC papers chair then reviewed the abstract selections for AISTech 2010. The committee will sponsor sessions on ladle refractories, degassing and secondary metallurgy. The next LSRTC meeting will be on March 3, 2010, in Birmingham, Ala., immediately after the Ladle Refractory Training Seminar. Representatives from the Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting Technology Committtee joined the LSRTC members for three technical presentations. Carl Corbin of Vesuvius USA presented an in-depth review of ladle stirring practices, the current understanding of ladle stirring, and water modeling results of the optimum stirring practices for a variety of secondary treatment options. Kevin Cotchen of SMS Siemag presented information on the design and operation of vacuum systems for ladle degassers. Champion Chigwedu of ArcelorMittal presented the results of a study on casting clogging and clean steel practices.
The Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) held their spring meeting on May 6, 2009, in conjunction with AISTech 2009. In the absence of the committee chair, the immediate past chair of the committee presided over the meeting and thanked all for attending AISTech. Introductions were made, the recorder of the meeting minutes was named, and two new members were welcomed to the committee. An officer election was held, and the new officers were confirmed for the positions of chair, vice chair and papers chair. Following a brief review of the mission statement, the members re-approved its status for the following year. The members then reviewed plans for their fall 2009 meeting. Suggestions were to meet independently or to meet jointly with the AIST Continuous Casting Technology Committee (CCTC). The LSRTC will meet in Charleston, S.C., with the CCTC, and two members offered technical presentations on ladle degassing and ladle stirring. The Ladle Refractory Training Seminar is being rescheduled for March 2010 in Birmingham, Ala., at which time the LSRTC will hold their winter meeting.
The Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) held their winter meeting on March 17. With the downturn in the economy and the difficulty members were having in travel, the committee held the meeting as a Web-based meeting, which was hosted from Gallatin Steel. After introductions, a review of the AIST Antitrust Guidelines and the AIST staff announcements, the membership chair gave an update on member contacts to the committee target list. The list will continue to be maintained as the committee looks to increase participation in their technical discussions. Safety incidents and prevention measures were discussed in a round table format, permitting each member to give an account of and resolution to any safety or health incidents at their facility. The technical discussion for the meeting focused on ladle fundamentals. The three presentations given were: “Ladle and Secondary Refining Basics” by Ruth Engel, “Fundamentals of Inclusion Control” by Stewart Robinson of Carbide Industries, and “Slag Design and Deoxidation” by Larry Wolfe of Carmeuse NA. The papers chair gave an overview of the LSRTC sessions for AISTech 2009. Five sessions were organized by the committee. The meeting concluded with a discussion regarding the Benchmarking and Operations Reporting system and the criteria relevant to ladles and secondary refining systems. The members will review the current benchmarking criteria and determine any changes to it at an upcoming meeting. The next meeting for the LSRTC will be in the fall of 2009. Considerations are again being given to a Web-based meeting to alleviate member travel costs.
The Technical Report No. 9 Subcommittee of the Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee met in Cleveland, Ohio, at Middough Inc. on Nov. 21, 2008. The focus of the meeting was to complete the final revisions to Technical Report No. 9. After introductions, the subcommittee reviewed the improvements to the report to bring the new members up-to-date. The new report will be more consistent with other AIST technical reports. The progression of design and construction of a ladle shell is consistent with industry practice, and the measurement units have been removed where possible to allow the report to be more international in acceptance. The sections of the report were then reviewed to ensure completion prior to the report going to ballot draft. The Owner’s Information Sheet was modified in structure to follow current design practice by fabricators. The members also reviewed Dr. Millet Wei’s comments on the report draft. A historical perspective will be developed on all the equations and derivations for future reference. The section on refractories will eventually be expanded, but for this revision, the section reflects the current industry rate of change. As in past revisions, a step-by-step example of designing a ladle shell will be included. A member asked that a graph detailing slag density be included in the revision, but it was determined that, with steelmaking slag being significantly lighter than molten steel, the brimful capacity of the ladle would still dictate the stability of the ladle. Other typographical oversights or omissions were corrected throughout the text and figures. The section on flat bottom ladles included a comment that reinforcing plates only provide additional strength to riveted flat bottoms. Additionally, the section on dished bottoms was subdivided into type (dished, torispherical or ellipsiodal bottom) for clarity in the equations. In addition to the design example, the appendix for ladles with more than two stiffener bands requires final updating prior to ballot draft. The next meeting will be in February 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) held their fall meeting on Oct. 29–30, 2008, in Canton, Ohio. The members initially met in the afternoon of Oct. 29 at The Timken Co. for a tour of the steelmaking, ingot processing and rolling operations at Timken’s Faircrest facility. The attending members then participated in the AIST Northeastern Ohio Member Chapter reception at the Fox & Hound. LSRTC members had the opportunity to talk with members of AIST from Northeast Ohio. On Oct. 30, the LSRTC held a business meeting. Following introductions and a review of the AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines, a round table discussion of safety incidents was conducted, during which members could discuss safety practices and events in the steel industry. Chad Clark, chair of the LSRTC, then outlined future activities of the committee. The committee consensus was that the current format of three meetings per year would be maintained, with the winter meeting focused on round table discussions based on a pre-meeting survey. The spring meeting will be a business meeting at AISTech. The fall meeting will be highlighted by technical presentations on fundamental practices and procedures in steel chemistry refining. Both the winter and fall meetings would be off-location and include a plant tour to further increase the technical focus of the meetings. The members also created a list of key individuals in molten steel refining who would be an asset to the committee’s membership. The position of “membership chair” was created to assist in communicating the LSRTC mission to the individuals and invite them to be members of the committee. A list of presentations were organized for the winter meeting to kick off the technical pursuit of the committee. Ruth Engel and Rick Backous have been asked to present ladle refractory basic practices and programs; Stewart Robinson will be presenting the fundamentals behind inclusion removal; Eugene Pretorious has been asked to present the basics of clean steel practices; and Larry Heaslip and Larry Wolfe have been asked to present the fundamentals of slag design and deoxidation. The meeting, to be held March 18–19, will include a tour of Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc., and it will be co-located with the AIST Ladle Refractory Training Seminar and the AIST Birmingham Member Chapter winter meeting, which will include a keynote address. A review by the Refractory Training Subcommittee was given regarding the status of the training seminar program, which will be held March 17–18. The members then held a round table discussion regarding topics related to ladle alloying, cost-saving initiatives, ladle furnace practices and ladle refractory programs. An update regarding the status of the revised Technical Report No. 9, Specification for the Design and Use of Ladles was provided by members of the TR9 Subcommittee. The document has been finalized and is being sent to the LSRTC for ballot review. The document should be published in the second half of 2009. The papers chair then provided an update on the LSRTC-sponsored technical sessions for AISTech 2009. A note was made that the AIST Refractory Systems Technology Committee will be co-sponsoring the Ladle Refractory and Slidegate session. Other sessions were reviewed and restructured accordingly to ensure quality Ladle and Secondary Refining sessions. The meeting concluded with four members volunteering to review the Ladle and Secondary Refining Best of Session papers from AISTech 2008 for the 2009 Ladle and Secondary Refining Best Paper Award, which will be presented at the LSRTC business meeting during AISTech 2009.
The AIST Technical Report No. 9 Subcommittee of the Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) met on July 22 in Cleveland, Ohio, at Middough Associates to finalize the revisions to Technical Report No. 9 — Design and Use of Ladles. In the Materials section of the report, the Metallurgical Considerations were expanded to include a provision that the steel used to construct the ladle sidewall and bottom must be of pressure vessel quality, and that operating a ladle outside its designed parameters could cause the carbide phases in the steel shell to change from carbon or carbon-molybdenum to graphite, causing premature failure. Furthermore, information was added to the Maintenance and Repair section of the report to advise a ladle owner to evaluate the metallurgical quality of the ladle shell at specific intervals to ensure that no changes in the microstructure had occurred. The Owner’s Information Sheet was redesigned to reflect how an owner today provides information to a fabricator for ladle construction; specifically, the reference to riveted construction was removed, as the group felt that new ladles would not be constructed using rivets. Finally, the section on inspection was updated to ensure that weldments were inspected properly, depending on whether the welds were on a new ladle or in a repair. The committee has now finished the revisions to the document. There will be a final meeting of the committee in November before the report goes to ballot draft. Each member will receive sections of the report to review for consistency and accuracy in figures, symbols and equations.
The Ladle and Secondary Refining Operating Committee (LSROC) held their annual Spring meeting on May 6, 2008, during AISTech 2008. Kevin Cotchen, LSROC chair, greeted everyone and thanked them for attending the meeting and supporting the LSROC technical sessions at AISTech. The 2008 Ladle and Secondary Refining Best Paper Award was presented to Dr. Gordon Irons of McMaster University for his paper entitled, “Monitoring Ladle Eye Dynamics Using Multivariate Statistical Methods,” presented at AISTech 2007. An update was given regarding the integration of the AISI Manufacturing Committees and the AIST Operating Committees. The AISI Manufacturing Committee on Primary and Secondary Oxygen Steelmaking has been integrated with the LSROC and the AIST Oxygen Steelmaking Operating Committee. The new committees are now known as the AIST Ladle and Secondary Refining Technology Committee (LSRTC) and the AIST Oxygen Steelmaking Technology Committee. The leadership will work together as co-chairs for the first several meetings until leadership is elected for the unified committee. A producer-only round table will be a part of all future LSRTC meetings. The committee then held an election of officers. The former vice chair and papers chair were moved up one position, and a new papers chair was elected for 2008–2009. A revision was made to the committee mission statement, integrating safety into the text. An update was given by the Ladle Refractory Training Subcommittee regarding the status of the Ladle Refractory Training Seminar, which is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, Ala., March 17–18, 2009. It will consist of a one-day training seminar and a half day dedicated to a tour. The new LSRTC will have their first meeting in the fall of 2008 at The Timken Co. in Canton, Ohio, and will tentatively schedule their winter meeting in conjunction with the Refractory Training Seminar in Birmingham, Ala.
