Development of a User-Friendly Automatic Control System for Electro-Slag Remelting Process

This paper presents development of a user-friendly automatic control system for ESR(Electro-Slag Remelting or Refining) process. It is a second-phase refining one, commonly applied to production of high-purity specialty steel. A primarily refined castingot acts as a consumable electrode and melts by the electric resistance heat generated when high current is induced through a slag bath. The quality of product is evaluated by its chemical composition, purity, micro-structure, uniformity, mechanical property, etc. To meet the standards, above all things, the process should be kept sound and the melt rate should track the optimum profile irrespective of environment variations. Current ESR system is manually operated ...