Operational Experience of Large Sized ESR Plants and Attainable Quality of ESR Ingots with a Diameter of up to 2600mm

In the last years the field of remelting was mainly characterized by the commissioning of large sized ESR plants for the production of ESR ingots with a diameter up to 2.600 mm and weights up to 250 tons. These ESR plants are designed for short collar mold as well as static mold operation with the possibility of electrode change for both concepts. The steel grades of such big ESR ingots vary from low alloyed carbon steels for the nuclear power industry to complex chromium martensitic stainless steels for the power generation industry.The present paper deals with the operational experiences of large sized ESR plants especially with the challenge of a well controlled starting and hot topping process as well as the electrode change procedure. Results will be a lso given regarding the attainable quality of ESR ingots produced in a 250 tons static mold as well as a 145 tons short collar mold ESR plant.