1. History of the arc furnace

Known since Moissan's patents, the electric arc owes its first industrial applications to Héroult, first at La Praz in France on October 9, 1900, then a few years later in Syracuse (USA).

The Héroult furnace (figure 1 ) had a capacity of 2,500 kg. Continuously powered at 110 V and 4,000 A, it was the first to be able to produce steel from scrap.

Its qualities led to rapid development. Unlike the converter and the Martin furnace, was it not possible to obtain the high temperatures required to add ferroalloys in a non-oxidizing environment?

But the price of electric power and its low productivity meant that it could not compete with the blast furnace-converter tandem (or Martin furnace) for ordinary steel production, so...