CISR includes faculty from the Materials Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemical Engineering departments and employs four full-time research professionals. The major emphasis in ironmaking at CISR is on bath smelting, a new revolutionary ironmaking technology. Research is under way to develop a basic understanding of the iron bath-smelting process that may replace the blast furnace. In bath smelting, coal, ore and oxygen are reacted in an iron bath and the off gas is used for partial pre-reduction. Five research projects sponsored by AISI Direct Steelmaking and CISR are ongoing in this area.
Work includes studies on reduction reaction, slag foaming, and process modeling.
The program has been extended to examine the reactions involved with the treatment of steel plant wastes in the smelting process. CISR is working to improve steel refining, in particular, sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus removal and vacuum degassing. The center has a large program on nitrogen control in steelmaking which is critical for the expanded use of scrap as a raw material to produce higher quality steel. Projects on improved desulfurization including the effect of FeO in the slag and better slag-metal separation to improve iron yield and the thermodynamics of systems relative to the production of stainless steels are carried out. There is a major program on slag entrainment during casting operations which leads to defects in the final product.