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Metals
Special Issues
Steelmaking and Ironmaking: Fundamental Research to Technology Innovation
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Steelmaking and Ironmaking: Fundamental Research to Technology Innovation

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 440

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Elmira Moosavi-Khoonsari

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS), Montreal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada
Interests: thermodynamics and phase equilibria; experiments, modeling and simulation; process metallurgy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jahazi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Montreal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada
Interests: steel; fabrication technologies; forging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the fundamentals of ironmaking and steelmaking and their impact on subsequent stages such as casting, rolling, forging, and final product quality.

The Special Issue invites research on both theoretical and applications aspects, including physical chemistry, mass transport phenomena, solidification, and experimental investigations ranging from laboratory scale to pilot and industrial trials. Topics on modeling, simulation, machine learning, and big data analytics aimed at process understanding and optimization, and alloy development are highly encouraged.

In line with the industry’s evolution, the Special Issue also welcomes studies on advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0 technologies, automation, and digital twins in steel production. Topics related to environmental sustainability—including green steel production, CO2 emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and circular economy strategies such as scrap-based steelmaking and lifecycle analysis—are also encouraged, reflecting the growing importance of sustainable practices in modern metallurgy.

Materials essential to steelmaking—such as slags, refractories, and ferroalloys—are also within scope, as are investigations into advanced steel grades, including their microstructure–property relationships and performance in downstream applications.

By highlighting state-of-the-art research and innovative technologies, this Special Issue aims to advance the scientific and technological frontiers of the iron and steel industry in response to modern industrial and environmental challenges.

Prof. Dr. Elmira Moosavi-Khoonsari
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jahazi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ironmaking
  • steelmaking
  • refractories and slags
  • casting and solidification
  • secondary processing of steel
  • advanced manufacturing
  • modeling and simulation
  • big data and machine learning
  • green steel and sustainability
  • advanced high-strength steels

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 5637 KiB  
Article
Optimizing High-Al2O3 Limonite Pellet Performance: The Critical Role of Basicity in Consolidation and Reduction
by Yufeng Guo, Yixi Zhang, Feng Chen, Shuai Wang, Lingzhi Yang, Yanqin Xie and Xinyao Xia
Metals 2025, 15(7), 801; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15070801 - 16 Jul 2025
Viewed by 277
Abstract
With the gradual depletion of high-quality iron ore resources, global steel enterprises have shifted their focus to low-grade, high-impurity iron ores. Using low-grade iron ore to produce pellets for blast furnaces is crucial for companies to control production costs and diversify raw material [...] Read more.
With the gradual depletion of high-quality iron ore resources, global steel enterprises have shifted their focus to low-grade, high-impurity iron ores. Using low-grade iron ore to produce pellets for blast furnaces is crucial for companies to control production costs and diversify raw material sources. However, producing qualified pellets from limonite and other low-grade iron ores remains highly challenging. This study investigates the mechanism by which basicity affects the consolidation and reduction behavior of high-Al2O3 limonite pellets from a thermodynamic perspective. As the binary basicity of the pellets increased from 0.01 under natural conditions to 1.2, the compressive strength of the roasted pellets increased from 1100 N/P to 5200 N/P. The enhancement in basicity led to an increase in the amount of low-melting-point calcium ferrite in the binding phase, which increased the liquid phase in the pellets, thereby strengthening the consolidation. CaO infiltrated into large-sized iron particles and reacted with Al and Si elements, segregating the contiguous large-sized iron particles and encapsulating them with liquid-phase calcium ferrite. Calcium oxide reacts with the Al and Si elements in large hematite particles, segmenting them and forming liquid calcium ferrite that encapsulates the particles. Additionally, this study used thermodynamic analysis to characterize the influence of CaO on aluminum elements in high-aluminum iron ore pellets. Adding CaO boosted the liquid phase’s ability to incorporate aluminum, lessening the inhibition by high-melting-point aluminum elements of hematite recrystallization. During the reduction process, pellets with high basicity exhibited superior reduction performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Steelmaking and Ironmaking: Fundamental Research to Technology Innovation)
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