This book seeks to provide a comprehensive coverage of the important and
growing field of ladle metallurgy, including theory, practice, and
economics. During the past decade, major advances have been made in the
secondary metallurgy of steel and other metals; indeed, secondary
metallurgy, that is, the ladle treatment of molten metals, following the
melting and refining steps, has become an important and inevitable part
of the overall processing sequence. Ladle metallurgy is attractive
because it can provide an effective means for adjusting and fine-tuning
the composition and temperature of the molten products prior to
solidification processing. Ladle metallurgy allows us to produce
materials of very high purity and will become increasingly an essential
process requirement. Indeed, many of the novel casting techniques will
mandate steels of much higher cleanliness than those in current
practice. Of course, ladle metallurgy or secondary metallurgy is not
limited to steel; indeed, major advances have been made and are being
made in the secondary processing of aluminum, aluminum alloys, and many
specialty metals.