Skyler M. Schultze
PRCO America Inc.
This summer I got to intern at PRCO-America in Hickory, Ky. They make refractory bricks for ladles and furnaces, and I learned a lot about how they hold up in the mill. I started out helping in the quality lab and got to learn and help with testing our bricks by performing cold crushes, porosity tests and chemistry checks. After learning more about the importance of our bricks, I got to travel to Steel Dynamics Inc. – Engineered Bar Products Division in Pittsboro, Ind., to help with a furnace reline, which was such a unique experience. I was able to get in the furnace and help the guys lay brick, which is quite the process.
My main project was to travel to steel mills with our bricks and gather data to perform a multivariate to learn why our bricks are wearing faster or unevenly in ladles. The main mill for gathering data was CMC Steel New Jersey, and I got out there for two weeks to gather data and help in the mill. I worked with engineers and refractory workers to gather data like tapping times, brick temperatures at tap, ladle metallurgy furnace times and chemistries. I then worked with the engineers to put all the data together to figure out what variables had the greatest effect on refractory wear rate. Besides gathering data, I also got more hands-on experience by going to the mill between shifts and going in the furnace to get brick length measurements as well as working in the ladle to put in new well blocks and slag line.
I previously did a co-op with SSAB Americas R&D and learned a lot about the finishing and quality side of steelmaking, and this summer I got to learn more about refractory bricks and the hot end and it makes me appreciate the hard work and effort from every department that goes into making steel. I’m grateful to everyone at PRCO and CMC for supporting my projects and work in the mill, and also thank you to AIST for this internship opportunity to dive deeper into the steel world. I know that I will continue to work in the steel industry, as these internships have strengthened my interest in materials, steel and refractories.