Complete Temperature Monitoring in a Pilot Transferred-Arc Plasma Furnace

Temperature distribution in a transferred-arc plasma furnace for steel remelting is presented. Arc, bath and insulating wall temperatures are measured on the basis of Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (AES) and Multi-Wavelength Pyrometry (MWP). Both molten bath used as anode and cathode situations are examined and compared. In the former case, temperatures in the range 10000 - 25000 K are determined for a 250 mm length arc (86 V, 1760 A), and the corresponding molten steel temperature is about 2000 K. In the latter case, electron density is higher near the anode than it is near the cathode (reverse to anode case) and the temperature gradient is smooth between the electrodes is smooth (9000 K < T < 11500 K). Bath temperature is 150 K lower than in the anode configuration. (author)