Humans have been making iron and steel for centuries.

Steel
fuelled the industrial revolution and remains the backbone of
modern industrialized economies. It’s hard to imagine a world
without steel – be it construction, vehicles, engines or machines,
steel is ever present in all we do and all we make.
Steel’s versatility, in terms of its composition and properties, its
strength-to-weight ratio and its ability to be
infinitely multicycled into new products sets steel apart from
other materials and has been instrumental in its ongoing success.
This article briefly explains how iron and steel made. Separate
articles discuss how the material is converted into steel
construction products and the basicmaterial properties of
steel that are used in design.

Methods for manufacturing steel have evolved significantly

since industrial production began in the late 19th century.
Modern methods, however, are still based the same premise as
the Bessemer Process, namely, how to most efficiently use
oxygen to lower the carbon content in iron.Today, steel
production makes use of both recycled materials, as well as the
traditional raw materials, such as iron ore, coal, and
limestone.Two processes; basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) and
electric arc furnaces (EAF) account for virtually all steel
production.
 History
Steelmaking has played a crucial role development of modern
technological societies. Cast iron is a hard brittle material that is
difficult to work, whereas steel is malleable, relatively easily
formed and a versatile material. For much of human history,
steel has only been made in small quantities. Since the invention
of the Bessemer process in the 19th century and subsequent
technological developments in injection technology and process
control, mass production of steel has become an integral part of
the world's economy and a key indicator of technological
development.[3] The earliest means of producing steel was in
a bloomery.
Early modern methods of producing steel were often labour-
intensive and highly skilled arts. See:
 finery forge, in which the German finery process could be
managed to produce steel.
 blister steel and crucible steel.

An important aspect of the Industrial Revolution was the

development of large-scale methods of producing forgeable
metal (bar iron or steel). The puddling furnace was initially a
means of producing wrought iron, but was later applied to steel
production.
As early as 6,000 years ago, early civilizations used iron ore
found in meteorites to construct primitive tools. The first iron
furnaces appeared in about 1400 BC. These were very simple
rounded hearths in which iron ore and charcoal were heated to
very high temperatures. By reheating, ironworkers could
hammer the metal to remove impurities and increase hardness. It
was realised that by making high-quality iron very hot and
adding a few other metallic elements an even stronger material
could be produced.
Small amounts of crude steel were first manufactured in eastern
Africa and India as early as 300 BC. The Europeans and Chinese
developed steelmaking processes a few hundred years later. The
industrial revolution had a major impact on steel demand for
machinery, railroads, and other ambitious industrial projects and
in 1855, Henry Bessemer took out a patent on his process for
rendering cast iron malleable by the introduction of air into the
fluid metal to remove carbon.
The story of the Bessemer steelmaking process is a classic
example of the military impetus for technological development.
During the Crimean War, Bessemer invented a new type of
artillery shell. The generals reported that the cast-iron cannons
of the time were not strong enough to deal with the forces of the
more powerful shell so Bessemer developed his improved iron
smelting process that produced large quantities of superior
quality steel. Modern steel is still made using technology based
on Bessemer's process.
The real revolution in steelmaking only began at the end of the
1850s when the Bessemer process became the first successful
method of steelmaking in quantity, followed by theopen-hearth
furnace.
Modern Iron Making
Iron is manufactured in a blast furnace. First, iron ore is mixed
with coke and heated to form an iron-rich clinker called ‘sinter’.
Sintering is an important part of the overall process as it reduces
waste and provides an efficient raw material for iron making.
Coke is produced from carefully selected grades of coal.
Different grades of coal are stocked separately and blended
before transfer to coke ovens. The coal is heated, or ‘carbonised’
in the ovens until it becomes coke. It is then removed from the
oven, cooled and graded before use in the blast furnace. The
coal gas produced during carbonisation is collected and used as
a fuel in the manufacturing process while by-products such as
tar, benzole and sulfur are extracted for further refining.

Coke, ore and sinter are fed, or ‘charged’, into the top of the
blast furnace, together with limestone. A hot air blast, from
which the furnace gets its name, is injected through nozzles,
called ‘tuyeres’, in the base of the furnace. The blast air may be
oxygen-enriched and coal or oil is sometimes also injected to
provide additional heat and reduce coke requirements. The blast
fans the heat in the furnace to white-hot intensity, and the iron in
the ore and sinter is melted out to form a pool of molten metal in
the bottom, or hearth, of the furnace. The limestone combines
with impurities and molten rock from the iron ore and sinter,
forming a liquid ‘slag' which, being lighter than the metal, floats
on top of it.
 The Blast Furnace

The charging system at the top of the furnace also acts as a valve
mechanism to prevent the escape of gas,
which is taken off through large-bore pipes to a gas cleaning plant. An
important feature of iron making is that the process is continuous. When
a sufficient quantity of molten iron accumulates in the hearth of the blast
furnace, it is tapped off into ladles for steel-making. As slag builds up on
the surface of the molten metal it, too, is tapped off at regular intervals
through a separate ‘notch’ or taphole. Meanwhile, the raw materials
continue to be charged into the top of the furnace, and heated air blasted
in at the bottom. This process goes on throughout the ‘life’ of the
furnace, which can be 10 years or more, before the heat-resistant brick
lining begins to deteriorate. The furnace is then relined.
 Conversion to steel
The basic raw material for steel manufacture is either the hot metal from
the blast furnace , steel scrap or a mixture of both. The proportions of
material used vary according to the process and the type of steel
required. Steel can be described in general terms as iron with most of the
carbon removed, to make it tougher and more ductile . There are many
forms (grades) of steel, each with its own specific chemical composition
and properties to meet the needs of the many different applications. Two
major steelmaking processes are used today in the UK.

Basic oxygen steelmaking

Hot metal from the blast furnace and steel scrap are the principal
materials used in Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS). Modern furnaces,
or ‘converters’ will take a charge of up to 350 tonnes and convert it into
steel in around 15 minutes. A water-cooled oxygen lance is lowered into
the converter and high-purity oxygen is blown on to the metal at very
high pressure. The oxygen combines with carbon and other unwanted
elements, eliminating them from the molten charge. These oxidation
reactions produce heat, and the temperature of the metal is controlled by
the quantity of added scrap.
The carbon leaves the converter as a gas, carbon monoxide, which can,
after cleaning, be collected for re-use as a fuel. During the ‘blow’, lime
is added as a flux to help carry off the other oxidized impurities as a
floating layer of slag . The quantities of scrap, hot metal and lime and
other fluxes are calculated to ensure the correct steel temperature and
composition. In many plants, the refining process is assisted by the
injection of gases, including argon, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, through
the base of the furnace. After the steel has been refined and samples
taken to check temperature and composition, the converter is tilted and
the steel is tapped into a ladle. Typically, the carbon content of the steel
at the end of refining is about 0.04%. During tapping, alloy additions can
be made to adjust the final composition of the steel.
When all the steel has been tapped, the converter is turned upside down
and the residual slag is tipped into a waiting slag ladle for removal to a
slag cooling pond, from where it is further processed to reclaim any
material which can be returned to the process.
Basic oxygen steelmaking

BOS furnace or converter

Charging hot metal to the BOS furnace

 Scrap being loaded into the BOS furnace

The main steps in the BOS process

 Electric Arc Furnace

..

An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats charged material

by means of an electric arc.
Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately
one ton capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up
to about 400 ton units used for secondary steelmaking. Arc furnaces
used in research laboratories and bydentists may have a capacity of only
a few dozen grams. Industrial electric arc furnace temperatures can be
up to 1,800 °C (3,272 °F), while laboratory units can exceed 3,000 °C
(5,432 °F).
Arc furnaces differ from induction furnaces in that the charge material is
directly exposed to an electric arc, and the current in the furnace
terminals passes through the charged material.
 History
SteelAsia is a company borne out of a partnership that started in 1965.
Filipino businessmen Benito Yao and Go Kim Pah (founder of Equitable
Bank), joined forces to put up a rolling mill called Island Metal. The small
rebar facility would eventually bloom into one the world’s largest and most
modern rebar manufacturing companies today.
In the late 1980s, under the leadership of successor Benjamin Yao, the
company would embark on an expansion and modernization of its
manufacturing capability, as a platform for helping the Philippine steel
industry to become part of the solution. Up until the mid-1990s, the highly
fragmented Philippine steel industry was composed of over 50 small steel bar
rolling mills of circa 19th century and early 20th century technology. Obsolete
and inefficient, the Philippine steel industry could hardly be a positive factor
in contributing to the country’s economic development, burdening the
construction and property development sector with its high cost of production,
inefficiency and spotty track record of quality and timely delivery. The solution
was scale and modernization.
In 1994, a project to establish the Philippines’ first state-of-the-art steel bar
rolling mill was underway. Driving the endeavor, the SteelAsia
Manufacturing Corporation had envisioned a facility that would truly be a
national asset; world class steel products and services would lower the cost of
construction, and help spur economic growth. When the mill- a showcase of
European technology, commissioned in 1996, it was a statement to the ASEAN
steel community, that the Philippines had finally joined the ranks in modern
industrialization.
SteelAsia today plays a key role in national development.
Around one out every two steel bars installed in construction are manufactured
by SteelAsia. More than 80% of the steel bar requirements for land, air, sea,
power and communications infrastructure are supplied by SteelAsia. It is the
preferred supplier of the largest contractors and property developers in the
Philippines.
It is has vertically integrated both upstream and downstream, having the largest
and most modern steel billet making facility and the largest rebar fabrication
plant in the country. Already with 6 plants operating across the archipelago, it
is adding two more- among the world’s largest and most modern steel bar mills,
to meet the needs of today’s unprecedented economic growth.
Rebar

Rebar is the common name for cylindrical shaped steel bars with
uniformly spaced protrusions called lugs or deformations. They are hot
rolled from semi-finished steel called billets.

Rebar are the predominantly consumed steel product of the construction

industry and are used specifically for concrete reinforcement. Rebar
creates tension in concrete to help hold it in a compressed
state. Reinforced concrete gives infrastructure, buildings, bridges,
houses, and other construction the necessary structural integrity as
required by Philippine law and building codes.
SteelAsia carries the full line of rebar specifications used in the
Philippines.

"Weldability" refers ONLY to a TS/YS Ratio of greater than 1.25, or a

bar intended for seismic conditions.
It is common nomenclature and a misnomer in that it does not refer to a
capability of a bar to be welded or not.
 Rebar standards are detailed in the Philippine National Standard for
Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement PNS49 and for re-rolled bars
PNS 211.

Cut and Bend

Cut and bend is a value added rebar solution for the optimization and fabrication of
rebar in a factory environment.
Depending on the structural design, rebar are cut and bent to specific shapes. In the
developed world, this activity is done offsite in a factory environment compared to
the developing countries such as the Philippines which predominantly work rebar at
the construction site. In some developed countries, offsite fabrication is even
required by law, because working rebar onsite is considered an unsafe practice at the
level of the construction management, and also final structural safety of the
building.
The practice of working rebar at the construction site results in significant material
wastage, logistic inefficiencies such as double handling, additional site costs, and
most importantly imprecise and unsafe bends and cuts.
Steel Asia introduced Cut and Bend Services in the Philippines and is helping to
bring rebar solutions for the construction industry to world-class levels. SteelAsia’s
cut and bend services uses the latest technologies including automated equipment
and rebar management software. Customers benefit from:

 Zero wastage on cuts

 Elimination of storage and related overheads
 Elimination of double handling
 Elimination of site related damage and pilferage
 Safer construction site
 Simplicity of management
 Consistent and precise cuts and bending
 Zero damage to bars during bending

 Mechanical Couplers
 Lapped splices are not always the most economical solution for
connecting rebar in columns and beams. The overlapped rebar
represent wasted rebar material and time consuming rebar
fixing. The use of mechanical couplers can create material and time
savings and simplify the management of rebar fixing and
installation.
  SteelAsia offers mechanical couplers and rebar threading services.
 SteelAsia offers Bartec couplers. The Bartec system involves a
cold-forging process to increase its rebar diameter prior to
threading. Thread is then mechanically cut unto the enlarged end of
the bar. Through this process, there is no reduction the rebar’s cross
section area. Couplers can then be physically attached by screwing
directly onto the rebar.

Carcar Works
Location
Bgy. Perrelos, Carcar City Cebu Region 7 (Central Visayas)
Background
The Carcar Works of SteelAsia houses SteelAsia’s M4, the only rebar
rolling mill in the Visayas group of islands. The mill was established by
the AC Steel Industries in 1998 and mothballed a year later soon after the
1997 Asian Financial Crisis. In 2009 the SteelAsia group acquired the
mill and after rehabilitating and upgrading the facility, re-commissioned
it in the same year.
The mill was upgraded with Level-2 automation and is at par with world
standards of productivity, conservation and operational health and
safety. Originally commissioned as a 150,000 tpy mill, SteelAsia has
upgraded its capacity of 300,000 tpy.
When SteelAsia started up M4 operations Cebu buyers saw rebar costs
reduced by over PhP 1,000 (USD 25) per ton. Cebu consumers and
distributors had huge freight savings as they no longer needed to ‘import’
rebar from Manila. M4 could be accessed by the public for picked-up
orders 24 hours a day, 7 days week. Besides the lower rebar cost, the
impact was also immediately felt by the region’s business community as
mill created economic activity for logistics, services, operations supply
and jobs. Also immediately, mill operations created so much port activity
that today, SteelAsia is the No. 1 tax payer (for the importation of its raw
materials) at the Port of Cebu.
Products
Carcar Works offers

 PNS49 Rebar (sizes 10mm to 36mm, lengths 6M to 12M)

o Grade 415 (ASTM Grade 60) regular and weldable
o Grade 275 (ASTM Grade 40) regular and weldable
o Grade 230 (ASTM Grade 33) regular and weldable

Technical Description
Carcar Works

Market Leadership
SteelAsia today plays a key role in national development.
Nearly one out every two steel bars installed in construction are
manufactured by SteelAsia. An estimated 80% of the rebar needs for land,
air, sea, power and communications infrastructure are supplied by
SteelAsia. It is the preferred supplier of the largest contractors and
property developers in the Philippines.
SteelAsia has corrected the geographical supply-demand incongruence of
the Philippines by locating new rebar mills throughout the archipelago
and close to regional centers of development and logistics, and brought
down rebar costs for consumers.
As the country’s flagship in steel it has taken the initiative to bring our
industry to world class standards of capacity, technology, management,
social inclusiveness, sustainable development and governance.
The construction industry has rewarded SteelAsia in return with its status
as market leader.