Common Method of Steel Making - Basic Oxygen Steelmaking The most cost effective and fastest method of producing steel is frequently used to make steel. This process is called basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS). The BOS method is when you fill your vessel (big cauldron thing that holds all the ingredients) with scrap metal. You then pour molten pig iron into the vessel as well so it can mix with the scrap metal. After the pig iron (which has been heated from rocks into molten pig iron) is poured in with the scrap metal an oxygen lance is speared down the middle of the mixture so when oxygen is blasted through the straw it will mix throughout the solution. After the solution has been oxidised the computer takes a reading to see if flux should be added. Flux help all the impurities (sections that make the steel weak) float to the surface, which is known as slag. When the solution is perfect the mixture is poured (tapped) out into steel ladle. Alloys are then added to the consumer’s conditions. When they are all mixed together you have steel. The remaining slang is then poured (tapped) into a ladle of its own, now the vessel is empty and the process can start again. Alternative Method - Electric Arc Furnace This Method of Steelmaking uses only scrap metal for the process. This process was originally used to make high quality metals like machine tools and spring steel because it gave more precise control over the composition. This type of steelmaking has a different type of vessel than usual it involves a circular bath with a detachable roof. Through this roof three giant graphite electrodes can be raised and lowered to melt the scrap metal. The lid is removed the scrap metal poured in the lid in replaced back on top and the rods are inserted. A powerful electric current passes through the graphite rod and it heats up melting the scrap metal. Fluxes are then added and oxygen is blown into the melt. As a result the impurities combined int