Guidance on making ferroniobium additions during ladle steelmaking

The successful production of all these steels requires careful control of the niobium level and, after casting, the niobium must be consistently present in a form, which during subsequent processing, will enable it to produce the desired metallurgical effects. It is important that steelmakers can confidently predict their final compositions and they need to be able to rely on a reproducible ‘yield’ of >95 percent. The principal purpose of this document is, therefore, to provide guidance regarding the optimum techniques for adding FeNb to steel, in order to maximize recovery and minimize any variability in niobium levels in the final product.