Panasonic Steel Mill Molten Steel Leak Video with the LX7 (VIDEO IS ONLINE NOW)

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Name
John Griggs
Basically, at the steel mill sometimes things fail just when you don't want them too. For instance, when the lining of a ladle holding 180 tons of steel fails, it would be better if there were not molten steel IN the ladle...

This was not a bad one which is why I'll show it. The ladle had to be taken to a dump pit, have it's arms unlocked, and then some of the steel poured off to take it below the level of the failure. When the ceramic lining fails the steel melts through the other shell and keeps enlarging the hole until a total failure occurs. This one happened high up at the "slag line" so it's easier to deal with.

In the first three still shots below, you can see the ladle leaking steel (on the far side sorry), workmen unlocking the pivoting lift arms, then finally the top level of steel and slag being poured off.

In the video (now at the bottom of this post) I'll show the "re-ladling" operation where the steel is poured into a good ladle so it can be salvaged -- 180 tons of steel is a lot of money and can't be wasted if at all possible.

The video is a high-def, hand-held video with the Panasonic LX7. I did a very basic edit, titling, and music addition in Premier Elements 11 -- nothing fancy. The music is Django Reinhardt which I hope you like okay... and if you don't tough, lol.

ladlebreak1s.jpg
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ladlebreak2s.jpg
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ladlebreak3s.jpg
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And here's the video:

[video=youtube;vNzP9cvHSkM]
 
Right now it's available at 480p. Should be high def after YouTube finishes it's "magic" -- not sure as I've not uploaded anything high def before now.
 
I've always been mesmerised by the heaviest of heavy industries, and in a nother life perhaps would have liked engineering as a career (had it not been for my inability with mathematics of course ...)
The illumination over the interior of the factory created just by the empty ladles (not the molten steel) struck me.
Can you explain "sanding"? I've googled but am not much the wiser.
 
Cool video John. As Dennis said, a different world for sure. Too much heat for me. Kind of cool hearing Django and Stephan in that context too - light dainty counterpoint to the heavy industry happening in the visual...

-Ray
 
You're taking me to another world here John.
Once again you make those colours sing.

Thanks!

If the colors sing in the video though, they are "self taught", lol. In this case I've done no post processing and this is what the LX7 gave us. You might notice a certain flatness in the contrast and that's because I shot in the "natural" tone for the LX7 which is a flatter presentation. I do that though to capture as much light range in the final product as I can though since that is more documentary than art, lol.

I've always been mesmerised by the heaviest of heavy industries, and in a nother life perhaps would have liked engineering as a career (had it not been for my inability with mathematics of course ...)
The illumination over the interior of the factory created just by the empty ladles (not the molten steel) struck me.
Can you explain "sanding"? I've googled but am not much the wiser.

At the bottom of the ladle is the nozzle and it's control "valve" called a ladle gate. This allows the steel to pour out from the bottom when casting. You might have noticed that these things aren't that easy to "pour" from the video and we almost never do that. When we are casting the steel slabs we send to our rolling mill, the steel exits the bottom of the ladle through that nipple you can see on the bottom when it's tilted. The rectangular structure surrounding that nipple is a ceramic sliding slab with a hole in it that is used to control the flow of steel.

However, when you pour the steel into the ladle after melting, that tube that leads down to that nipple doesn't have very thick refractory around it and it can cool off pretty easily. If that happens a "plug" of solidified steel will form in the nozzle which is not a good thing.

"Sanding" is literally pouring a special sand into the nozzle between the bottom of the ladle and the top of the ladle gate that allows the steel flow to be controlled. This forms a "plug" that is just sand, perhaps a little fused at the top. But, when the gate is opened the sand plug flows out and the weight of the steel breaks the fused layer at the top of the sand we get flow. This is called a "free open". If however it doesn't break, a small oxygen lance pipe is inserted from the bottom to cause the glassy fused layer to burn and break and this is called "lancing" the ladle.

Hope that makes it more clear.
 
Cool video John. As Dennis said, a different world for sure. Too much heat for me. Kind of cool hearing Django and Stephan in that context too - light dainty counterpoint to the heavy industry happening in the visual...

-Ray

Thanks, Ray.

I'm a real fan of that old jazz, lol. I thought it might make a nice contrast and make what is a somewhat boring video easier to watch. The drone and roar of all the fans and pumps operating in the mill does not make a very interesting background sound, though I let it come up a couple of times just for the heck of it.

I almost used some small group Benny Goodman stuff with Gene Krupa on drums, Lionel Hampton on vibes, and Teddy Wilson on piano -- I like Goodman most with his small ensembles of 3 or 4 pieces. But you guys will probably get that on some video later, lol.
 
Thanks, Ray.

I'm a real fan of that old jazz, lol. I thought it might make a nice contrast and make what is a somewhat boring video easier to watch. The drone and roar of all the fans and pumps operating in the mill does not make a very interesting background sound, though I let it come up a couple of times just for the heck of it.

I almost used some small group Benny Goodman stuff with Gene Krupa on drums, Lionel Hampton on vibes, and Teddy Wilson on piano -- I like Goodman most with his small ensembles of 3 or 4 pieces. But you guys will probably get that on some video later, lol.

I can actually imagine this video with "Sing Sing Sing" under it. But I like Django and Stephane just fine.
 
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