Oct. 20, 2025

Ladle furnace processing is a refining technique performed outside the ladle, used in smelting furnaces for secondary refining outside of primary refining furnaces (such as electric arc furnaces, converters, and open-hearth furnaces).
Ladle refining furnaces use arc heating and argon agitation to refine molten steel after primary refining to adjust its composition, temperature, and purity.
The main functions of an LF furnace include heating and maintaining the molten steel, arc heating, argon agitation, and vacuum degassing to meet the requirements of continuous casting and rolling.
This method is a key link between primary refining and continuous casting, enabling the production of high-quality steel products that meet specific standards, such as bearing steel and structural steel.
Arc Heating: An arc is generated by electrodes, heating the molten steel to the desired temperature and maintaining it at this temperature. This allows for the addition of alloys and slag during the refining process to adjust the steel composition and maintain the required temperature for continuous casting.
Argon Agitation: Argon is blown into the molten steel from the bottom of the ladle to ensure uniform mixing. This helps promote deoxidation and desulfurization processes, removes non-metallic inclusions, and improves the purity of the molten steel.
Vacuum Degassing: Some ladle refining furnaces processes (such as VAD and VOD furnaces) are performed under vacuum. Vacuum degassing effectively removes elements such as hydrogen and nitrogen from the molten steel, further reducing the oxygen and sulfur content, resulting in steel with superior performance.
Composition Fine-tuning & Alloying: Alloying elements and slag are added to the ladle to precisely adjust the chemical composition of the molten steel to meet the requirements of different steel grades.、
Process Buffer: The LF smelting furnaces also serves as a process buffer, providing qualified molten steel for downstream continuous casting or rolling processes, ensuring production speed and efficiency.
Ladle treatment (argon blowing) is a basic off-chamber refining technology that uses a ladle as a container and injects inert gas for stirring and refining.
The LF furnace builds on argon blowing with the addition of arc heating, making it a standalone device with both heating and refining functions. Other methods, such as VAD furnaces and RH vacuum cycle degassing, perform more complex refining and degassing operations under vacuum conditions.
If you have any questions or inquiries regarding smelting furnaces, including ladle furnace, refining furnaces, electric arc furnace, submerged arc furnace, and induction furnace, please feel free to contact us to provide the best solutions and quotes to you.
Latest News
What are the Advantages of the Molten Oxygen Combined Operation Method?
Oct. 22, 2025
What is The Ladle Furnace Treatment?
Oct. 20, 2025
Latest Products
Customized metallurgical machinery and equipment range: Electric Arc Furnace, Submerged Arc Furnace, LF Refining Furnace, Vacuum Furnace, Induction Furnace, Dust Remove System, Water Treatment Equipment, etc. Providing the most advanced equipment integration services, metallurgical equipment can be customized according to different needs of customers, and production capacity can be adjusted according to customer requirements.
Electric Arc Furnace
Submerged Arc Furnace
LF Refining Furnace
VD / VOD Vacuum Refining Furnace
Induction Furnace
Furnace Accessories
Navigation
E-mail: anna@srfurnace.com
Tel: +86 159 2955 5868
WhatsApp: +86 159 2955 5868
Add:
Room 422, 4th Floor, Building D, No. 5, Phase I, Fengdong Free Trade Industrial Park, Xixian New District, Shaanxi Province