Shinagawa Refractories Australasia (Shinagawa) has established an enviable reputation for the manufacture and supply of quality refractory and insulating materials to the Australasian, South East Asian and Pacific Rim markets.
Refractories for The Iron and Steel Industry

This iron and steel industry is a primary consumer of refractory worldwide. It has historically been a key market for Shinagawa in Australasia, and also for Shinagawa in Japan. From blast furnace stoves, BOS vessels and steel ladles to torpedo ladles, troughs and electric arc furnaces, the company produces refractories suitable for the most arduous of steel making environments. SHIRAMAG, AIRMAG and RESICAL basic brick, SHIRAL high alumina and firecaly brick and SHIRACRETE low cement castables are just some products that have proven performances within this field. Commitment to continual improvements are evident in record achievements in steel ladle life with 80% alumina SHIRAL brick and also in expert production of intricate shape brick for coke oven chequers. Special developments such as the SHIRAGUN range of low cement gunning mixes are used in a number of applications within the iron and steel industry such as blast furnace trough covers and hot metal ladle pouring spouts. The product range also includes CASTON blast furnace trough castable and AIRTAP® tap hole clay for use on the blast furnace. An extensive range of state-of-the-art steel flow control refractories is offered from Shinagawa’s plants in Japan.

SHIRAMAG – Basic Monolithic Refractories

Shinagawa manufactures a range of basic refractories including magnesia, chrome magnesia and magnesia alumina spinel monolithics based on high purity magnesite and chrome ores. Magnesia contents range to 95%. Installation is by casting, gunning or ramming. With high strength and a unique bonding system they provide excellent resistance to molten metals (steel, copper, lead, alloys etc.) and slags. This family of refractories is marketed under the name SHIRAMAG.
AIRMAG – Magnesia-Carbon Bricks

Shinagawa offer a complete range of Magnesia-Carbon bricks. These products are marketed under the AIRMAG trade name and range from 7% to 20% Carbon content. With proven performance in Steel making vessels, Electric Arc furnaces and Steel Ladles throughout Australasia, the AIRMAG range of products are manufactured from very high grade raw materials and pressed to exacting specifications as required of such demanding applications. AIRMAG products are divided into three main classifications, premium, X and Y, according to process and technology and then are further classified based on Raw Material Quality (H/J/K) and anti-oxidation additions. Premium Magnesia-Carbon bricks - these represent the tried and tested materials used in all facets of Steel-making. Manufactured using premium grade materials, these product focus on security of production for our customers. X-Grade Magnesia-Carbon bricks – this range of bricks features a blend of materials aimed at meeting the stringent cost demands of our customers while still providing a high level of security and performance. Y-Grade Magnesia-Carbon bricks – these products maintain product consistency and a high quality standard for customers where pricing is a primary factor.
RESICAL – Alumina-Silicon Carbide-Carbon Bricks

The range of RESICAL bricks are alumina-silicon carbide-carbon products designed for use in molten iron handling applications. Typical use is in torpedo ladles and hot metal pots in integrated steel mills.
SHIRAL - Alumina Refractory Bricks

Shinagawa offers a complete range of high quality dry pressed alumina bricks, ranging from 35% to 95% in alumina content. These materials are manufactured with state of the art equipment, including computer controlled hydraulic presses that tightly regulate brick sizing and compaction pressure.

Firing is accomplished in multi-stage kilns to ensure even and accurate burning and consistent properties. Strict quality control standards control brick appearance and inherent variables such as strength, density and porosity. This quality approach serves three product groups in the SHIRAL dry pressed brick line:

· Fired High Alumina Bricks – these are produced from premium grades of alumina’s and bauxite’s and include brick with very low porosity, high strength, high thermal shock resistance and metal slag resistance. Some special grades are manufactured with phosphate bonds or andalusite aggregate for specific applications.

· Chemically bonded High Alumina Bricks – these high alumina, phosphate bonded brick are ideally suited to steel ladle or molten aluminium furnace applications due to their unique chemistry, including special aggregates and additives.

· Superduty and Fireclay Bricks – these lower alumina grades of brick are produced to the same exacting standards as the high alumina grades. These brick exhibit good strength and spall resistance over a range of service conditions and find use in a variety of applications.
SHIRACRETE – Low Cement Castables

The SHIRACRETE range of low cement, high technology monolithics is based on ‘state-of-the-art’ refractory castable technology using the highest quality aggregates, cements and additives. These products vary in alumina content from as much as 90% down to 45%. Superior physical properties are evident throughout the range. Low porosity plus outstanding strength and abrasion resistance are standard features of the SHIRACRETE low cement castable line.
SHIRAGUN – Low Cement Gunning Refractory

SHIRAGUN is a revolutionary range of low cement gunning products. SHIRAGUN low cement gunning materials combine the excellent physical properties of low cement castables with the speed and ease of installation by gunning. These materials were developed through an extensive research and development program over a number of years. The technical advantages of SHIRAGUN products over conventional gunning products include improved strength at all temperatures, excellent abrasion resistance, very good hot properties such as creep and hot MOR and very low porosity. SHIRAGUN low cement materials also show low dust and rebound characteristics and installs overhead with no slumping due to its excellent adhesion. The patented Shinagawa Inline Preform Mixer installation system can be used to further enhance the installation characteristics and physical properties of this product range.

CASTON – Castables for Blast Furnace Cast House Floors

The CASTON range of castable materials are used in blast furnace cast house floor applications. The range of CASTON products are based around high alumina aggregates with varying amounts of silicon carbide and carbon additions and contain no pitch or fume. These materials are excellent performers in metal and slag zones of main iron runners in blast furnace troughs as well as in slag runners, skimmer blocks, slag noses and other applications in the cast house floor. CASTON products have also found uses in non-ferrous applications where the non wetting abilities of silicon carbide and carbon provide benefits such as in molten copper handling and ferro-alloy production.
AIRTAP – Clays Specifically Designed for Metal Taphole Applications

AIRTAP is a range of clays specifically developed and manufactured for molten metal taphole applications. Typical applications include tapholes on iron blast furnaces, non-ferrous flash furnaces and electric arc furnaces. The clays are designed to ensure ease of application whether through manual or automatic means, the ability to fully fill the taphole and displace all liquids as well as high degree of security for taphole operations. The clays are also designed for simple removal through either mechanical drilling or other removal mechanisms.

A full set of tyres is a major constituent of any car or truck because it has the exclusivity of contact with the road. Progress in automotive technology is impossible without synchronous improvement in tyre developments.

Types of Tyres

Although the tyre appears to be a simple thing, it is, in fact, a complex composite with as demanding a combination of requirements as any part of the vehicle structure. Since the introduction of the first steel-reinforced tyres, a continuing series of innovations has enabled cold drawn 0.8% C steel cord to remain the most economical and efficient way to manufacture high performance tyres in mass production. Consequently the market share for textile and glass fibres has been reduced or reserved for specific niches.

Factors Leading to Increased Life of Tyres

The aims have been to reduce the unsprung mass of the vehicle, with consequential improvements in fuel economy and reduced emissions, and to increase the lifetime of tyres. These have been achieved by increasing the strength of steel cord filaments by 15%, with a corresponding increase in fatigue performance as well as maintaining the level of ductility of individual filaments and optimising manufacturing methods to control costs. A change in the design of the cord assembly was made in order to improve the reinforcement functionalism of the tyre.

Why use Steel?

Steel is the only material available to reinforce tyres which has a stabilised endurance limit, i.e. below a characteristic stress level no fatigue crack propagation will occur with infinite fatigue life. Above this threshold stress level, the higher strength steel cord gives between 10 and 30% longer life and enables truck tyres to be safely retreaded twice, giving lives of 500,000 km.

Steel Developments

A new high strength steel has been developed through the adoption of continuously casting with low segregation levels and high surface quality. Modifications and improvements to the drawing and heat treatment equipment have enabled steels with higher carbon contents to be drawn. The cold work deformation ψ increased from 3.2 to 3.5. The availability of the higher strength steel has facilitated the use of more productive stranding equipment. New strand and cable assemblies have been developed to make it possible to transmit an increased shear stress from the reduced cord surface to the surrounding rubber.

The strength of steel cord filaments is related to the logarithmic value of the filament size, table 1.

Table 1. Strength of steel cord filaments in relation to filament size.

Diameter (mm)	Regular tensile (N/mm2)	High tensile (N/mm2)
0.15	2950	3400
0.20	2815	3240
0.25	2720	3130
0.30	2650	3000
0.35	2580	2960

The amount of cold work is limited to levels that assure an acceptable ductility, and this is size dependent.

Load Transfer

As far as tyre design is concerned, the increase in the ultimate strength of the filaments must be effectively transferred to the functional surroundings of the reinforcement. To increase its efficiency the coated cord ply must have a lower weight for the same strength or a higher strength for the same weight. Higher strength cord also requires less special rubber providing adherence to the brass-coated cord.
Implications of High Tensile Cords

Because the wall thickness of the tyre body is decreased with the higher strength steel cord the hysteresis loss of deformation energy is also reduced, leading to lower fuel consumption and lower running temperature. The overall benefits include the following:

· Reduced weight tyres

· Reduced unsprung mass

· Longer life tyres

· Reduced fuel consumption

· Reduced vehicle emissions

· Reduced running costs

· Lower consumption of natural resources.

Buried steel items are subjected to a range of corrosive forces quite unlike those experienced in atmospheric exposure conditions, and the performance of both steel and galvanized steel in-ground is not as well understood as is the durability of these materials in above-ground applications.

Considerable research into the management of underground corrosion has been done, particularly with pipelines and related services.
Corrosion Factors In-Ground

Both steel and zinc react in different ways when in contact with soil and an understanding of the performance of each material when in contact with soil allows structure service life to be determined with reasonable accuracy.

Steel requires oxygen, moisture and the presence of dissolved salts to corrode. If any one of these is absent, the corrosion reaction will cease or proceed very slowly. Steel corrodes quickly in acidic environments and slowly or not at all as alkalinity is increased.

Zinc requires the presence of stable oxide films on its surface to provide its corrosion resistance. It performs best in neutral pH environments although it can tolerate exposures in the range from pH 5.5 to pH 12. In the absence of air, the stable oxide films do not form on the zinc surface, and corrosion can be accelerated if moisture is present under these conditions.

For this reason, galvanized steel is the best combination where structures are partly buried and partly exposed to the atmosphere, as the zinc provides the durability above ground while the steel performs predictably in-ground.
Soil Types and Corrosion

Corrosion of metals in soil is extremely variable and while the soil environment is complex, it is possible to make some generalizations about soil types and corrosion. Any given soil is a very heterogeneous material consisting of three phases:

The solid phase is made up of the soil particles that will vary in size and will vary in chemical composition and the level of entrained organic material.

The aqueous phase which is the soil moisture – the vehicle that will allow corrosion to proceed.

The gaseous phase, which consists of air entrained in the soil’s pores. Some of this air may dissolve in the aqueous phase.
The Solid Phase

Soils are classified according to their average particle size and their chemistry. Convention classifies particles over 0.07 mm to around 2 mm as sands, particles from 0.005 mm to 0.07 mm as silts and 0.005 mm and smaller as clays. Soils rarely exist with only one of these components present. Clay soils are characterized by their ability to absorb water readily. For this reason, clay soils present a significantly higher corrosion risk than sandy soils.
The Aqueous Phase

There are three types of soil moisture. These are free ground water, gravitational water and capillary water.
Free Ground Water

This is determined by the water table, which may range from ground level in swampy areas to many metres below the surface. This is the least important factor in determining corrosion as most buried structures are above the water table. High water tables will result in the buried structures behaving as if they were in an immersed environment.
Gravitational Water

This arises from rainfall, irrigation or condensation and will soak into the soil at a rate determined by its permeability. The frequency of contact will determine the period of wetness of the metal surface. In areas of regular heavy rainfall, most soluble salts may have been leached from the soil. Desert areas of low rainfall may have very high salt levels and can thus be more corrosive to buried metals than tropical environments.
Capillary Water

This is water entrained in the pores and on the surfaces of the soil particles. The ability of soil to retain moisture is vital to plant growth but it is the capillary water that is the prime source of moisture in determining corrosion rates of metals in soil.
The Gaseous Phase

Access of gas (air) into the soil depends on the soil’s permeability. Drier soils or coarser grained soils will allow more oxygen access to the sub-surface and increase the rate of steel corrosion relative to the oxygen deficient areas.
Corrosion Rates And Australian Standards

AS/NZS 2041-1998 –Standard for buried corrugated metal structures contains much useful information in table for to allow product life in-ground to be determined. These tables take into account resistivity of the soil (which factors in related issues such as levels of dissolved salts), pH and soil characteristics. This information is then related to in-ground corrosion rates for both zinc and steel.

Although world steel production has grown at a relatively slow rate since the mid 1970s, the process by which the steel is produced has changed, with a continuing shift from open hearth to oxygen steelmaking and more recently an increasing emphasis on EAF production, figure 1. The timescale for the deployment of such new process technology is measured in decades owing to slow growth, long life of existing plant and the low variable cost of current blast furnace and basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) plant. The cost factor is crucial, as it is not economically viable to replace existing BF/BOS plant with new technologies such as electric arc furnaces, direct reduction or smelting reduction until the plant reaches the end of its life.

As a result, the strategy in areas where there is little or no growth is to maximise the profitability and competitiveness of existing plants, prior to replacing them at the end of their life in a cost effective way. In areas where there are growth opportunities, there is a wide range of process technologies that can be tailored to match local market demand, feedstock and energy availability. This article gives examples from within British Steel of developments to increase the competitiveness of existing plants and summarises the new process technologies available.
Improving Profitability

British Steel seeks improvements to profitability through cost reductions, extending plant life, higher quality and higher value products. The company has made cost reductions in the area of ironmaking through advances in blast furnace performance. Productivity has increased thanks to operational improvements and also by reducing the number of furnaces, removing the older, most inefficient units. Equivalent coke rate in the furnace has reduced from 540 kg.thm-1 in 1980 to 480 kg.thm-1 in 1997. In addition, coal injection has increased and now is installed on most furnaces in British Steel. Developments in other fuel injection technologies, such as oil and natural gas, have also continued, and the use of fuel injection will increase. Consequently, coke consumption will continue to fall, minimising imports.
Extending Plant Life

Maximising asset life to defer expenditure on plant replacement is also key to maintaining competitive plants. Cokemaking developments in the areas of coal blend selection, control and monitoring, improved maintenance and inspection are geared to achieving a 40 year campaign life on current coke oven batteries. Blast furnace productivity has, over the past six years or so, levelled off and in recent times decreased. This is owing to the emphasis being placed on extending plant life as much as possible. As an example, Redcar blast furnace has reduced its daily production capacity from more than 10 ktpd to 9.2 ktpd. Key developments in ironmaking on life extension include:

· operator guidance systems for improved operation and reduced fuel rates

· liquid management systems using EMI's

· plant condition monitoring

· a stability task team

· a long life hearth group

· shell cooling improvements.
Control Systems

Blast furnace stability and control are important for maximising plant life. There have been developments in instrumentation, probes, expert systems and process control. Systems are now available that supply the operator with advance warning of furnace instability. Several key process variables are monitored and correlated, such as off-take temperatures, bosh and stack differential pressure, Eta CO and stock rod monitoring.
Higher Quality Steels

For producing higher value added products, higher quality steel must be produced in the first place. Over the past two decades, quality improvements have been developing, particularly with the introduction of secondary steelmaking. With the recent improvements in computing power and information technology, several examples of secondary steelmaking process control developments can be highlighted. These include ladle thermal tracking, ladle additions modelling, ladle power input modelling and process route timing. Other process and engineering developments include the smart lance, sub lance, tank degasser and a reduction in slag carryover. These have all led to substantial improvements in steel grade quality that can now be produced.
Improved Casting Technology

British Steel has invested substantially in casting technology, with many projects for either new casters or caster enhancements since 1994. Retrofitting new technology into existing plant is a key means of enhancing performance and the installation of a heat removal device to achieve near liquidous casting is an example of this. This process development has provided better quality in terms of improved segregation ratios.
Higher Value Added Products

Partly owing to improved steel quality being available and partly owing to process and engineering developments, the capability to produce higher value added products has increased. Current examples within British Steel are Slimdek (based on the asymmetric beam), the jumbo column, Bisteel and Lasersure. Indeed, Slimdek has been chosen by the Design Council as one of only six construction related products to be nominated as a ‘millennium product’. This scheme was proposed to identify and encourage the UK’s most innovative products and services.
Finite Element Analysis

Important to rolling development is finite element analysis, figure 2. This enables accurate simulations of the rolling process to optimise shape development through the process within the capability of the mill. This can lead to faster development and lower development costs of new products, the ability to optimise product quality, improved process understanding and input into design of new rolling equipment. Future development in this area includes metallurgical modelling to predict product properties.

New Process Technologies

New process technologies are being developed, with the aim of achieving:

· lower capital costs

· economic viability at small scale

· lower operating costs

· raw material flexibility

· environmental benefits.

The main areas for new process technology are alternative ironmaking, EAF steelmaking and casting technologies.

Alternative ironmaking can be split into two parts:

· direct reduction (scrap substitute)

· smelting reduction (hot metal replacement).

World direct reduced iron (DRI) production has increased markedly in the past 6 years, as the product is predominantly used in the EAF and therefore demand has increased with increasing global EAT steelmaking. Current world DRI production stands at 36 Mtpa.

There are several DRI processes but the Midrex process is by far the most prevalent. Newer fines based processes are being built, such as Finmet and Circored, and these should provide even lower operating costs. The only commercially available smelting reduction process currently available is Corex, with two operating plants worldwide and three other projects under development. Corex uses agglomerated ores as the feedstock and currently has a maximum capacity for a C3000 unit of 1.08 Mtpa. The next generation of fines-based smelting reduction processes are still several years away from fully being developed and include Hismelt, CCF and DIOS.
Electric Arc Furnaces

Electric arc furnaces have comparatively low capital costs at a capacity of 1 Mtpa, when compared to conventional ironmaking. The viability at small scale and the ability to feed regional markets with product from greenfield site developments has led to this technology being the first choice for new growth. To make the process even more attractive there are ongoing improvements to the EAF design concept, such as twin DC electrodes, oxy-fuel energy, scrap preheat, high furnace aspect ratio, twin shell and DC furnace.
Casting Developments

Casting developments have aimed to reduce the number of process steps involved in producing the final product. Conventional casting machines may be up to 800m in length, containing repeating furnace, roughers and finishers. With the advent of thin slab casting the number of stages is reduced, typically reducing machine length to 250m. Figure 6 shows a thin slab caster, commercialised in 1989, with more than 30 installations to date, including British Steel's investment in two US-based mills, Tuscaloosa and Trico.

Another development in casting is direct strip casting at much thinner gauges. Worldwide there are 15 developments underway, mainly for stainless product, with an NSC plant scheduled to be commence operation later this year.

These tests are intended for rapid, inexpensive and usually non-destructive and on-site sorting of grades of stainless steel. They are particularly useful for sorting products when, for example, bars of grades 304 and 303 have been accidentally stored together, or grade 304 and 316 sheet offcuts mixed. These tests are extremely useful, but it is important to realise that they have limitations; they cannot sort one heat from another of the same grade, and there is no easy way of sorting certain grades from each other. For instance, it is not possible to readily sort 304 from 321, 316 from 316L or 304 from 304L. The Molybdenum spot test therefore indicates that a piece of steel contains Mo, but does not alone indicate 316. In the absence of other knowledge the steel could be 316L, 2205 or 904L etc. The simple tests described may assist in grade identification and product sorting. Other, more complex tests can also be carried out; these can involve several chemical reagents, hardness tests or checking response to heat treatment. In most cases, however, if these simple tests are not sufficient to identify the product it is best to have a full spectrometric analysis carried out by a competent laboratory. The need for these sorting tests can be reduced if original product identification is retained. Product colour codes, tags and stickers and stamped or stencilled Heat/Grade/Specification markings should be retained as much as possible.

Tests

Table 1. Tests for the identification and sorting of stainless steel Test What Can Be Sorted Method Precautions Magnetic Response Austenitic (300 Series) stainless steels from other steels. All other steels are attracted to a magnet, including the ferritic, duplex, martensitic and precipitation hardening stainless steels. The only other non-magnetic steels are the austenitic manganese steels (eg “P8”). Note response, if any, when a permanent magnet is brought close to the steel. Some austenitic grades, particularly 304, are attracted when cold worked, eg by bending, forming or rolling. Stress relieving at cherry-red heat will remove this response due to cold work. This stress relief may sensitise the steel and should not be performed on an item which is later to be used in a corrosive environment. A full anneal is acceptable, however. Nitric Acid Reaction Stainless steels from non-stainless steels. 1. Place a piece of the steel in strong nitric acid (20% to 50%) at room temperature, or a drop of the acid on a cleaned surface of the steel. 2. Test standard samples in the same way, ie stainless and non-stainless steel samples. 3. Non-stainless steels will quickly be attacked, a pungent brown fume is produced. Stainless steels are not affected. Compare result with standards. 4. Wash samples thoroughly afterwards. Wear safety glasses. Strong nitric acid attacks skin and is very corrosive. Handle carefully. Use minimum quantities. Wash off immediately if skin contact occurs. Do not breathe brown fume. Molybdenum Spot Test (Mo) Stainless steels which contain significant Molybdenum from those which do not. The most common use is to sort 404 from 316, but the following grades also contain sufficient Mo to give a positive response to this test: 316, 316L, 317, 317L, 444, 904L, 2205, "6-Mo" grades, 4565S and all “super duplex” grades (e.g. S32760 / Zeron 100 / S32750 / 2507 / S32550 / Alloy 255 / S32520 / UR52N+). Other similar grades with deliberate Molybdenum additions will also respond. 1. Clean the steel surface; use abrasive paper, and if necessary degrease and dry. 2. Use "Decapoli 304/316" solution – shake well, then place one drop on the steel. 3. Place similar drops on standard 304 and 316 samples. 4. Darkening of the yellow drop in 2 to 4 minutes indicates significant Mo. Compare with indications on standard samples. 5. Wash or wipe samples clean. Avoid contact of test solution on skin, and particularly eyes. Wash off immediately if contacted. Reliable results only obtained if samples all the same temperature and freshly cleaned. Avoid very low sample temperatures. Some Heats of "Mo-free" stainless steels, such as 304, contain enough Mo to give a slight reaction. Standard comparison samples must be used. Sulphur Spot Test (S) Steels (stainless and plain carbon) containing at least 0.1% Sulphur, ie free machining grades. (eg S1214, S12L14, 303, 416, 430F), from non-free machining steels. Ugima 303 contains high sulphur (the same as standard Type 303) so will give a positive reaction, but Ugima 304 and Ugima 316 have the same low sulphur contents as their standard (non-Ugima) equivalents, so will not give positive reactions. 1. Clean the steel surface; use abrasive paper, and if necessary degrease. A flat area is preferred. 2. Prepare standard samples in the same way, eg known CS1020 and S1214, or 304 and 303. 3. Soak photographic paper in 3% sulphuric acid for about 3 minutes. 4. Press the prepared steel surfaces on the face of the photographic paper for 5 sec. 5. A dark brown stain indicates significant sulphur. Compare with indications from standard samples. 6. Wash samples thoroughly.