Huge Scale! I-Beam Manufacturing Process by Melting Metal Scrap. Steel Mass Production Factory

Korea's Steel Production Process

Overview of Pohang Steel Company

• Established in 1954, Pohang Steel is Korea’s first private steel company, producing various steel products including H-beam section steel used in large structures and civil engineering.

• It ranks as one of the three largest steel companies in Korea and was the 84th largest globally based on production in 2015.

Scrap Metal Collection

• Trucks collect discarded scrap metal nationwide; dust covers are used on city roads but removed inside the factory.

• Approximately 200 trucks deliver around 60,000 tons of scrap metal daily, valued at tens of billions of dollars.

• A massive grapple operates like a claw machine to load different sizes of scrap into a bucket that can hold about 110 tons.

Melting Process

• The electric furnace melts iron scrap at approximately 1600℃; workers wear flame-retardant gear due to extreme heat and flames.

• High-voltage current is used to melt the scrap metal while impurities are filtered out with over a 90% recovery rate.

Refining Molten Steel

• Clean molten iron is transferred to a ladle for further processing; it retains a temperature around 1600℃ during this stage.

• Chemical reactions during subsidiary material input cause sparks; operators visually check the condition before moving to refining.

Casting and Rolling Processes

Casting Molten Iron

• The refined molten steel undergoes two refining processes before being poured into molds through connected nozzles.

• Semi-finished products emerge from molds with surface temperatures between 900~1000℃.

Shaping Section Steel

• Gas cutters shape the hot section steel, which is not yet finalized; serial numbers are engraved for identification purposes.

• The semi-finished products are reheated up to 1270°C for about two hours before rolling begins.

Finalizing H-Beam Shape

• Softened section steel is pressed multiple times through rolling mills to achieve precise 'H' shapes across ten stands.

• After rolling, water cooling lowers the temperature; coolant is reused after exposure outside.

Final Processing Steps

Cooling and Proofreading

• The cooling process takes about 1 to 2 hours depending on product specifications; remaining coolant evaporates quickly upon contact with air.

Cutting and Binding