OPEN-HEARTH PROCESS

Process of making steel by heating the metal in the hearth of a regenerative furnace. In the basic open-hearth steel process, the lining of the hearth is basic, usually magnesite; whereas in the acid open- hearth steel process, an acid material, silica, is used as the furnace lining and pig iron, extremely low in phosphorous (less than 0.04%), is the raw material charged in.