In the future, an increased percentage of steel will originate from the Electric Arc Furnace and from the scrap route, for both long products as well as a proportion of flat products.
Since a deterioration in scrap quality is also predicted, the European steel industry could be faced with quality problems due to the higher content of tramp elements in steel, which may affect end user properties to a greater or lesser extent.
In order to analyze and overcome these problems, a major research project is proposed dealing with the control of residuals in scrap and liquid steel, and with the influence of tramp elements on steel product properties. It is composed of four main sections:
1. Scrap preparation for reducing the tramp element content; 2. Purification of scrap melts for removing residuals at the liquid stage; 3. Influence of tramp elements on the properties of flat products; 4. Influence of tramp elements on the properties of long products.