The Circularity in Steel Series: Part 1, The History of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) Steelmaking

Nuclear Corporation of America headquarters in Denville, New Jersey (1960’s).

The Circularity in Steel Series: Part 1, The History of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) Steelmaking

Since the 1850s, the steel industry has continually adopted new technologies to improve efficiency and production scale. Early methods like the open hearth and crucible processes gave way to blast furnaces and eventually to electric arc furnaces (EAFs), which enabled recycling-based steel production. These innovations have led to steel becoming a staple of today’s international industrial economy.

In this first article of the Circularity in Steel series, we will explore the history of EAF steelmaking and its importance in the steel industry.

The Electric Arc Furnace: A Timeline of Sustainable Steel

The history of the electric arc furnace (EAF) dates back to the late 19th century, representing a major shift from traditional steelmaking techniques.

• Concept and Invention
  The concept of the electric arc emerged in the 19th century as chemists and engineers developed new ways to melt steel. The first electric arc furnace in the U.S. was launched in 1907 as an alternative to traditional blast furnaces that relied on coal.
• Early Adoption
  Initially, EAFs were primarily used for specialty steel production due to the high cost of electricity. This limited their early adoption to applications requiring high-quality steel.
• WWII Expansion
  EAF steelmaking was used in Europe during World War II to meet wartime steel manufacturing demands since it could be established more quickly due to the lower capital cost.
  
  After World War II, improvements in electricity generation made the EAF process more economical. By the mid-20th century, EAFs started to replace traditional steelmaking methods for smaller batch production and were used in “mini-mills” specializing in recycled scrap metal. In the 1950s and 1960s, EAF technology initially gave some steel manufacturers a competitive advantage over the big companies who used integrated blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) technology.
• Rise of EAFs
  The term mini-mill refers to a steel mill that uses an electric arc furnace for melting scrap and recycling it into new steel, creating a circular process. EAF technology is highly efficient and capable of producing all types of steel. By the 1980s, EAFs had become essential for steel production, especially in the U.S., where the utilization of mini-mills was rapidly growing due to lower costs and increased flexibility.
• Modern Focus:
  In the recent decade, EAFs have taken a more prominent role in global steel production, particularly due to their ability to recycle scrap metal while producing far less carbon emissions compared to blast furnaces. Today, EAFs are critical in efforts to reduce the steel industry’s environmental footprint due to their compatibility with carbon-free energy and circular resource use across all steps of production.

Learn about the circular process of EAF steel here: Circularity in Steel Part 2

From specialty steel production to today’s sustainable, large-scale steelmaking processes, EAF technology has transformed into an environmentally and economically valuable tool in the modern construction industry.

The Shift and Introduction of EAF Steel

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, large U.S. steel producers relied on integrated mills that used blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces (BF-BOF), which rely on a heavily extractive-intensive steelmaking process to make steel.

Integrated BF-BOF steel mills had an advantage in the industry for decades until disrupters in the industry shifted the technology with the introduction of a circular steelmaking process with the EAF, an alternative method that began to grow market share ¹.

The Early Years

Vulcraft building in Darlington, South Carolina (1960s).

When Nucor – then known as Nuclear Corporation of America – first entered the steel business in the 1960s, they were very small in comparison to the major U.S. steel manufacturers. In 1962, Nuclear Corporation purchased a steel joist company, Vulcraft Corporation, and began looking for a way to source better-priced, domestically produced steel. The company chose to build an EAF mini-mill in Darlington, South Carolina, the first for the company, which went online in 1969. The EAF mill was far less expensive than the traditional steel blast furnaces used in the U.S., allowing the plant to vary production depending on demand.

Investing in an EAF mini-mill gave Nucor the ability to source its own steel with a lower initial capital investment than an integrated mill. In addition, it allowed Nucor to gain market share in the steelmaking industry by producing sizes not prioritized by larger steel companies. EAF technology allowed Nucor to become efficient, flexible and innovative in their steelmaking ².

Since its inception, Nucor has played a pioneering role in the rise of EAF steel production in the U.S., helping to transform the American steel industry and establish the EAF as a dominant production method. As the steel industry expanded in the 1970s, Nucor was leading the charge.

Over the next five decades, Nucor continued to invest in EAF technology and establish additional steel mills across the U.S. Today, Nucor is North America's largest steel producer and recycler and uses EAF mini-mills exclusively.

The Evolution of EAF Steel Mills

In 1989, Nucor launched the world’s first electric arc furnace sheet mill in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Although many in the industry said it would not be possible, this was the first mini-mill in the world to produce high-quality, flat-rolled sheet steel using EAF technology. This marked a new era in the steel industry, elevating EAF steelmaking to new heights with the proof that EAFs could create more than simple commodity products.

EAF sheet steelmaking has overcome many of the paradigms and earlier concerns with this technology including:

• Keeping pace with the production rates of conventional thick slab casters
• Producing steels for complex-shaped, deeply drawn, difficult-formed parts
• Producing steels for surface-critical applications

Nucor Crawfordsville Brochure (1980s)

Nucor continues to invest in and refine our steelmaking processes to meet the demands of our customers for higher quality, more complex and more sustainable steels.

The Future of Steel

In general, EAF steelmaking currently dominates steelmaking in the United States, but it is still not heavily used throughout the rest of the world (i.e., European and Asian markets). However, sustainability has sparked rapid and dramatic growth in EAF steel production in the United States and throughout the world.

As EAF technology continues to advance, new developments in higher-strength steels with improved ductility and toughness as well as larger and more efficient sections are expected by steel companies.

Other advancements include:

• High-Strength Structural Steel: Over the years, the grades for structural steel products evolved from A36 to A572 to A992 and now to A913 specifications. The stronger grades have allowed lighter foot weights to be specified in designs, leading to lighter foundations and an overall total cost reduction for steel materials in a project. As new projects are developed, steel grades and specifications will evolve as well to meet new design challenges and regulations.
• Advanced High Strength and Ultra-High Strength Steels: Nucor’s sheet mills continue to develop Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) and Ultra-High Strength Steels (UHSS) needed for the automotive industry.
• Automotive Exposed Steels: Nucor Steel West Virginia is being built to supply surface-critical steels for the exposed automotive market.
• Sustainability: Nucor-Yamato Steel Company produces Aeos™ ASTM A913 high-strength structural steel, which is made more sustainably with 95% recycled content with circular steelmaking and EAF technology — making it one of the lowest embodied carbon steels of its kind. Its high strength-to-weight ratio can reduce tonnage while supporting the same loads compared to ASTM A992, as well as provide a lower preheat requirement for fabricators.
• On October 5, 2021, Nucor officially launched Econiq ™, the world’s first net-zero carbon steel at scale and a certified low-embodied carbon steel solution. Nucor’s practices have challenged larger integrated steel producers, driving them to adopt more competitive and flexible production practices. This influence helped reshape the U.S. steel industry, with EAFs now accounting for about 70% of U.S. steel production (American Iron and Steel Institute).

Today, Nucor remains one of the largest recyclers in North America, annually recycling millions of tons of scrap metal and further reducing the carbon footprint of its steel production. Nucor recycled about 20.6 million net tons of scrap steel in 2023 in its 26 steel mills (Nucor 2023 Sustainability Report).