The eagerness of the young metallurgists to participate in the work of the Scientific and Technical Conference – 2009 was so great that not even the flu quarantine stopped them. Seven guests from allied industries, one of them even came from Belorus, participated in the steelmaking workshop. 28 reports were presented to the jury, covering almost all the problems tackled by the best brains in this branch of industry. Here’s what a member of the steelmaking workshop and jury member too, deputy head of the technical department of the Works Sergey Brazhnik said about the preparatory level of the speakers:
– Our youth is very well-educated. Herein it was very convincing for our committee who evaluated the reports and the preparatory level of the conference participants, including the guests, representatives of metallurgical works named after Ilyich, “Azovstal”, “Interpipe Nikopol Pipe Plant”JSC and “Dneprospetsstal”. The report of the steel maker assistant Igor Pivtsaev from the Belorus plant was very impressive. With his very interesting report he was able to show how the steelmakers work at his enterprise, how deeply they understand the technology and the new trends. There was a very competent report on the topic how new steel grades are mastered at the plant named after Karl Liebnecht (at present it is “Interpipe Nikopol Tube plant”) and what new materials are used. This report was presented by Dmitriy Garkavenko, a very well-educated and pleasant young man. These 2 guests have been rewarded with diplomas for the first and second places in our workshops.
Among the Works’ conference participants the most progressive reports on actual subjects have been prepared by specialists from the Central Laboratory of the Works. The engineers are very well-educated, technically competent, trained and they can deliver reports, answer difficult questions and they know the production very well.
Traditionally in an organized manner the representatives of the metallurgical furnace maintenance shop arrived at the conference. The managers of the shop always come to the conference to support them. The workshop participants from this shop, as a rule, seriously and fundamentally prepare their speeches and offer interesting proposals. This is very pleasing.
For the first time all the four specialists from the technical bureau of the converter shop participated in the conference. They tried their capabilities reporting on the perspectives of the new method of steel production.
It was difficult for us to give away the first place: 5 leaders followed one another very closely. The reports were evaluated according to the quality of the project, including the degree of actuality, the depth of topic research and the possibility of applying the innovation in practice, i.e. in the conditions of the Works. The second place was given for the manner of delivering the report and its execution. The capability of answering questions competently was also taken into consideration. As a result we gave preference to the engineer from the steelmaking laboratory of the Central Laboratory of the Works Yevgeniy Shtapura for his report on the subject “Optimization of the slag regime during the melting process on steel melting aggregate No.1”. It’s a very qualified and well-thought out report. It’s the result of a large job done by a group of authors who thought of how to improve the process of slag formation, reduce the consumption of fluxing materials in the conditions of unstable supply of raw materials. Yevgeniy was one of the authors of this project which has already been introduced and the economic effect brings millions.
In general, our workshop is notable for the economic effect its research work brings. It amounts to millions of roubles. Such is our production. The second prize was won by the young foreman of the metallurgical furnace maintenance shop Dmitriy Lysenko, who proposed a new technological method of bricklaying of open-hearth furnaces’ vertical flues.
The proposal has been introduced and it really increases the stability of the furnace, reduces the consumption of refractory material, repair time, and what is not unimportant increases labour safety. The value of this paper is that the young specialist invented the lining method himself.
You can neither do without refractory brickwork of metallurgical furnaces nor lining of ladles. Even if the open-hearth furnaces will be replaced by converters, the ladles will remain part and parcel of the steel teeming process. This means that the improvement of the lining technology will always be up-to-date. It can be said that the problem of ladles is one of the corner stones of metallurgical production. Alexander Klochok, head of the refractory laboratory group of the Central Laboratory of the Works reported on this topic and won the third prize. This is a very creative engineering work and it will be obligatorily implemented because it is a very perspective project. The idea itself regarding slag belt lining of steel teeming ladles with the usage of periclase-carbonaceous ladle items will considerably increase the campaign of the ladles.
It is pleasing to hear that young metallurgists are capable of looking at our old technology in a new way and improve and modernize it. An example of this is the creative work of Andrey Palamarenko, industrial engineer of the Central Laboratory of the Works. The topic of his report was based on improvement of steel teeming with the usage of ingot surface protection against splashes of hot metal. The idea also belongs to the author of the report which has received an encouragement prize. Vladimir Glukhov, foreman of the foundry shop, who is personally mastering the new type of ingot-moulds for Dneprospetsstal has delivered a report in his workshop on this topic.
It’s pleasing to know that our youth is widely using large opportunities of modern computer technique. The reports speak for themselves. But most of all the youth’s striving towards technical creativity is very pleasing. It’s capable of finding new solutions for optimizing processes on the basis of out-of-date technology.