3. Induction furnace preparation

3.1 Basic precautions

For steel melting, medium-frequency or high-frequency furnaces are most often used, as they enable rapid melting and the production of all grades, including special alloys based on nickel or cobalt.

However, a few general precautions must be observed to avoid rejects:

• as many different grades can be produced, it is necessary to carry out a washing fusion between two very different grades; generally, after casting stainless or heat-resistant steels, a carbon steel is produced and chromium and nickel are recovered, which can enable a low-alloy steel to be produced;

• As furnaces are generally of low capacity, an error in the nature of the returns has a greater...