The century old unchanged sampling method for steelmaking has been overturned

The Swansea University won the 2018 "Material Science Innovation Award" issued by Armourers and Brasiers Company by virtue of the new technology of monitoring the temperature and composition of molten steel, which can save up to 4.5 million pounds annually for steel mills. This technology, developed by Szymon Kubal and a research team of Swansea University, uses a laser that emits a laser into the steelmaking furnace, which can continuously monitor the temperature in the steelmaking furnace without needing a one-time probe or stopping production.
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Szymon Kubal is beside the molten steel furnace in Port Talbot, Tata Steel, UK. Photo source: Tata Steel Co., Ltd.
Szymon Kubal, a doctor of Tata Steel and a researcher of Swansea University, commented that: "Our new technology enables the laser beam to be projected into the steelmaking furnace through a channel called 'tuyere' on the furnace wall, and uses the latest gas injection technology to protect the data transmission channel. One of the difficulties is to test the running steelmaking furnace under normal production conditions. However, we have been able to conduct a comprehensive test through cooperation with Tata Steel UK."
This new technology has won the Materials Science Risk Award from Armourers and Brasiers, with a prize of £ 25000. Swansea University is the first institution to win this award twice, both of which have made pioneering contributions in the field of steel.
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Image source: Armours&Brasiers Twitter
At present, production needs to be temporarily stopped during the steelmaking process, and then a disposable probe needs to be immersed in the molten metal to measure temperature. And this is very inefficient because it requires a long time, expensive probes, and low production efficiency.
If new technologies can improve quality control without requiring additional downtime, the potential cost savings for steel manufacturing enterprises may be considerable. When receiving the award, Swansea University said that this new technology can "save 4.5 million pounds per year for steel mills" and may be applicable to smelting other metals, such as aluminum, copper and nickel. By using new monitoring methods, significant changes in costs and production benefits can be observed. In January 2018, Swansea University established a new company, Kubal Wraith Ltd, to commercialize the technology and bring it to the market.
Transforming manufacturing processes
The research team is led by Dr. SzymonKubal, including experts Dr. Cameron Pleydell Place and Dr. Adrian Walters from the School of Engineering of Swansea University. One of the jury members of the award, Bill Bonfield, said, "This project demonstrates how research and innovation can change established manufacturing processes. Our award aims to encourage scientific entrepreneurship in the UK and provide funding to help innovation like this achieve its development potential
Dr. Adrian Walters, the Royal Social Entrepreneur of Swansea University, said: "In 2016, Swansea University won the 2016 Entrepreneurship Award for its pioneering approach to solving corrosion problems, improving steel products, while this year's winners improved the first stage of steel manufacturing process, which shows that Swansea University is providing innovative solutions for steel."
Dr. Gerry Ronan, the intellectual property director of Swansea University, said: "This is a prestigious and competitive award, which provides great credibility for early entrepreneurship.
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Image source: Tata Steel UK Twitter
Laser based monitoring of molten metal has always been an important research topic. The current methods include using laser scattering to achieve non-contact temperature measurement, or monitoring the growth of oxides in the melt and the resulting changes in reflected light intensity, as well as correlating the rate of intensity reduction with the temperature of the molten metal.
Another method is to use Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to monitor the melting process of molten metal online. Szymon Kubal's research in cooperation with Tata Steel in Swansea University has included many non optical development and redesign of structural elements to improve the treatment of molten metal. However, he has also discussed laser scanning technology for monitoring metal smelting furnaces and refractories before, which has exceeded its established use in monitoring the wall thickness of refractories.
In a paper presented at the 2017 International Conference on Refractory Technology, Szymon Kubal commented on the impact of the application of laser scanning technology on the operating costs of steel enterprises. He said, "Modern laser scanning technology not only provides information on the thickness of refractory materials in smelting furnaces for safety purposes, but also provides information on lining temperature through scanning results. By assisting in tapping to optimize cycle time and increase production, it can also help select materials to eliminate severe wear areas, and optimize maintenance processes to maximize their value in use
Obtaining the second award within three years shows Swansea's professional strength in materials science and the quality of business opportunities created by the university. This is also an honor for Dr. Adrian Walters, who has worked closely with these two successful teams. “