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Microwave Steelmaking
Makarand writes "Researchers at the Michigan Technological University are working on a
low-cost
steelmaking process which uses microwaves to heat iron ore instead of conventional heating.
Their steelmaking facility was made of magnetrons from six household microwaves wired together and an electric arc furnace. When fed iron oxide and coal, the microwave energy could reduce the iron ore to iron within minutes and the electric
arc furnace smelted the iron and coal into steel. The steel industry is taking a closer
look at this new process which could cut steel production costs by upto 50%."
First they find the cure for cancer is the common cold, and now they can put metal in a microwave!! Maybe next they'll find the cause of belly button lint.
Does anyone think any of the savings will be passed down to consumers?
You see, free trade can do good things for the average worker. Though to be fair "good things" in this case means fewer steelworkers will lose their jobs instead of all of them. Still, it's improvement, and who knows? If our costs really drop by 50%, demand very well could increase enough to justify keeping all the old workers around.
(I didn't really have anything to say, but the only other posts with scores higher than zero were... Well, if you've been on Slashdot for more than five minutes, you know what they were like.)
Umm, last time I my microwave oven, it had an efficiency of about 50% (1500W in=>800W RF out). I'm wondering if the researcher has already counted that in?
hot diggidy, *woohhaa* competition feels great .... but coming fith doesn't :-)
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
" The steel industry is taking a closer look at this new process which could cut steel production costs by upto 50%"
I'm glad somebody finally hit that research button. I can't make any more villagers.
"Derp de derp."
Oh and with lousy workers I mean that americans will keep on insisting on being paid more then a starving wage and refuse to do double shifts. The rotters.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You could use a microwave to pop popcorn! It might sound outlandish to some, but if it can melt steel, a microwave might just be able to pop popcorn. Perhaps someone with a physics background might care to comment as to the feasibility of my concept.
finished rehab?
Since this technique is a lot more efficient than using conventional methods, how feasible would it be to make a portable steelmaking machine? Say.. that was small enough to be lifted by rocket to another planet.
The idea being, of course, that you feed rock and electricity in one end of a smallish box and get steel out the other. Would this be useful for making a base on the moon or mars? Huh?
Why would they rehire american workers if they get another way to raise their profits?
I seem to recall that you have to blow hot air or oxygen through the melt to burn out excess carbon to convert the pig iron to steel. Maybe he hasn't gotten that far developing the process.
If indeed he has found a way to go from ore straight to steel, this is a pretty valuable process. There just isn't enough information to tell.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Well, nobody has mentioned that you're not supposed to put steel things in the microwave yet, either.
Did the professor see sparks when he turned on the microware with the iron inside?
Mine produces sparks when I put aluminum foil in the appliance and turn it on.
Disclaimer:
Kids, don't try this at home!!!
This may be a big timesaver, but, unfortunately, this process gives the steel a rubbery texture, and the middle always comes out frozen.
Alaska Bugs Sweat Gold Nuggets
"(as it cools it contracts, when you melt it, it expands. think frozen water)"
;)
Because, with water, the density of it as a solid is less than the density of it as a liquid. That's why freezing water in something will cause the little peak hill in the middle, or shatter the container from the extra pressure. It's also why ice floats.
So, frozen water contracts when it melts and expands when it freezes -- the opposite of what you're trying to get to
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
How much of the price of a ton of steel is attributable to labor costs? Some industrialists like to blame organized labor for all of their problems when they themselves have refused to invest in improved production techniques for decades.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Do you have any idea on the multiple steps needed to make any particular alloy of steel?
No?
Do you know how to check the ore for sulfur?
How about too much Phophorus?
No again?
Do you know when and why to add lime?
Hmmmm????
Lets try an easy one: What are the alloying elements in 4140 Steel? No looking it up online, after all, this is unskilled knowledge!!!!!
How about the time and temperature schedule for heat treating 6061 alloy Aluminium to the T5 State???
So, you have no knowledge about metals at all, other than that they are (sometimes) shiny?
So where do you get off denigrating the skills of people who can do something which you have no idea how to even start?
Of all the things I loath, the arrogance of people who call a task they could not do if I held a blowtorch to their genitalia and their life depended on it "Unskilled" is near the top of the list.
Actually many of those power plants shut down because they could make more money supplying California then making their actual products.
I remember because there were some labour unions upset that they were doing this.
I don't know what the problem is, getting sent home full pay because the company could make an even more profit due to the NIMBY attitude of California.
If Mars once had life...and for long periods of time. Then there might be oil to be found as well. But even if so, the quality of and quantity of such hydrocarbons may not be worth the effort for energy use.
Life is not for the lazy.
We are supposed to recycle -- under penalty of law, but the most serious penalty I have seen is that the city workers are "empowered" to slap a bright orange stickers on piles of cardboard left by students at the U during moving day if they didn't bundle such piles to the satisfaction of the city workers. We have to recycle aluminum, glass, newspapers, cardboard, and number 1 and number 2 plastic, although there is a list as long as your arm of non-acceptable number 1 and number 2 containers. Oh, and we have to recycle tin cans.
Mr. Recycleman (not his real name, but ironically close to it), the city dude in charge of garbage, got on the TV to mention the benefits of recycling, including that all those tin cans are made into new cars.
Is this the real deal or one of those enviro-fibs? I thought that steelmaking for cars, or at least what the Japanese were doing, was almost as fussy in its control over trace impurities and alloy levels as semiconductors, because they were making a very low carbon steel that they could bond with zinc rustproofing and then stamp or otherwise form into very thin and curved sections that make up modern lightweight, fuel efficient, crash resistant, rust resistant cars. I thought the only thing tin can scrap was good for was rebar -- you could make the road the cars ride on but certainly not the cars themselves.
So why do we have to recycle tin cans? They are a PITA to get clean enough to stockpile enough to set out for recycling (the stuff that comes in them turns into very rank garbage if not cleaned up -- spaghetti sauce, canned soup, and so on). If they were really so valuable, couldn't they be picked out of the garbage stream with a magnet?
I heard that the only thing that makes money recycling is the aluminum can, and we wouldn't need the second green garage truck, it would pay to take them to a drop off center for cash. It was also suggested that the reason for recycling this other stuff was to get homeowners in the habit in case some kind of other markets developed. I think the other than aluminum recycling is a big scam, but I suppose I could be educated if someone has some other insights on this.
another machine that goes "ping"
I would not really call this progress; if they would run this contraption on solar power or a penlite battery, it would be worth mentioning...
Morc