The plasma ladle furnace offers absolutely clean energy under economical conditions. It is to be preferred when delicate grades such as ELC or nickel-based alloys are to be treated. In particular it is ideal for use in continuous casting lines wherever quality and temperature have to be held constant over prolonged casting times.
As the arcs can also be operated without melt contact, the plasma ladle furnace can also be used for slag treatment, as even electrically non-conducting alloy elements can be melted without contact and superheated under total control. It is therefore an absolutely ideal unit for desulphurisation.
In principle the plasma ladle furnace operates with arcs in exactly the same way as the conventional graphite-heated ladle furnace, but with two major differences:
the electrodes produce no carburisation
arc stabilisation with argon results in the active creation of an inert furnace atmosphere
Furthermore, the torches can be perfectly positioned not only vertically but also at an angle, if necessary. A small pitch circle diameter with high efficiency and lower wall burden are the result. An inclined torch arrangement also permits contact-free heating with non-transmitted arc.