| Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) | (english) "WHAT A pear-shaped furnace, lined with refractory bricks, that refines molten iron from the blast furnace and scrap into steel. Up to 30% of the charge into the BOF can be scrap, with hot metal accounting for the rest. WHY BOFs, which can refine a heat (batch) of steel in less than 45 minutes, replaced open-hearth furnaces in the 1950s; the latter required five to six hours to process the metal. The BOF's rapid operation, lower cost and ease of control give it a distinct advantage over previous methods. HOW Scrap is dumped into the furnace vessel, followed by the hot metal from the blast furnace. A lance is lowered from above, through which blows a high-pressure stream of oxygen to cause chemical reactions that separate impurities as fumes or slag. Once refined, the liquid steel and slag are poured into separate containers. " |
| Blast Furnace | (english) 1) A furnace in which solid fuel (limestone, coke, iron ore) is combined with high-pressure, hot air blast (120,000 psi) to smelt ore in a continuous process (They are never stopped. They can be slowed down or idled). A Blast Furnace in the iron and steel industry is used to produce liquid iron. |
| Boiler | (english) A closed vessel in which water, is transformed into steam at a given pressure and temperature under controlled conditions. |
| Bolster (die block) | (english) A “tool” or reinforcing part which supports the backer-which, in turn, supports an extruding die against the pressure of extrusion. |
| Break Test (for tempered steel) | (english) A method of testing hardened and tempered high carbon spring steel strip wherein the specimen is held and bent across the grain in a vice-like calibrated testing machine. Pressure is applied until the metal fractures at which point a reading is taken and compared with a standard chart of brake limitations for various thickness ranges. |
| BREATHER | (english) A device which permits air to move in and out of a container or component to maintain atmospheric pressure. |
| Brinell Hardness Test | (english) A common standard method of measuring the hardness of materials. The smooth surface of the metal is subjected to indentation by a hardened steel ball under pressure. The diameter of the indentation, in the material surface, is then measured by a microscope and the hardness value is read from a chart or determined by a prescribed formula. |
| Brinell Hardness Testing | (english) Method of determining the hardness of materials; involves impressing a hardened ball of specified diameter into the material surface at a known pressure (10-mm ball, 500-kg load for aluminum alloys). The Brinell hardness number results from calculations involving the load and the spherical area of the ball impression. Direct-reading testing are generally used for routine inspection of forgings, and as a heat treat control function. |
| BURST PRESSURE | (english) The level of pressure at which a component, pipe, tube, hose or other fluid passage will burst during application of internal pressure. Normally 2.5 - 4.0 times working pressure. |
| Z-Mill | (english) The full name for z-mill is Sendzimir mill. A Z-mill operates with a very small diameter work roll, normally about 2 inches, backed up by a number of rolls in a pyramid-shaped stack. This roll set up allows you to exert extremely high forces through the work roll and yet keep the work roll from extreme flexing. The take-up roll on the Z-Mill also exerts a tension on the coil as it comes through the mill. The combination of high pressure and tension makes the mill capable of rolling material thin and flat. |