What is the difference between LF and LRF?
Simply put, there is no difference. In English, LF is the abbreviation of Ladle Furnace, and LRF is Ladle Refining Furnace. Generally speaking, ladle furnaces are used for secondary refining of molten steel, so LF and LRF both refer to ladle furnaces, but the latter makes it clear that this furnace is used for refining. For industry insiders and engineers, LF and LRF are the same thing.
In the use of our company’s website, LRF is generally used more. For example, our innovative IF+LOD+LRF technology. It refers to the steelmaking process of Induction Furnace + LOD + Ladle Refining Furnace, in which the LOD furnace is our original refining technology. The purpose of this novel steelmaking process is to make the Induction Furnace steelmaking process also have the effect of reducing carbon and phosphorus, while retaining its advantages like easy-to-operate, cost-effective and normal impact on the power grid.
What is a ladle refining furnace?
In a broad sense, any furnace that directly operates the ladle, covers the ladle or places the ladle in a vacuum container to maintain the required process atmosphere in the ladle, and refines the molten steel is a ladle refining furnace. For example, LF Furnace, VD Furnace, VOD Furnace and our LOD Furnace are generally used after steel is tapped from a converter or electric furnace (electric arc furnace or induction furnace), and are a type of out-of-furnace treatment or out-of-furnace refining.
In a narrow sense, LF refers to a molten steel refining device that uses arc heating and argon blowing from the bottom to stir the steel. The furnace body during arc heating is the ladle, and the arc heating equipment is similar to a three-phase AC arc furnace. It can accurately control the temperature and composition of the molten steel and has the ability to desulfurize and deoxidize.
The steelmaking process that generally includes a refining furnace is as follows:
Converter/electric furnace -> steel tapping -> ladle hoisting to refining station (where refining furnace is located) -> secondary refining outside the furnace -> continuous casting
