What happens at Port Kembla?
At Port Kembla, they treat the metals that are collected by different machinery. From the little particles that we cannot even see to the massive rocks that are dug up from underneath, they bunch it all into one, consistent, feel of material/liquid to allow the end product to be something that a consumer can use.
There are many different steps that the factory has to undergo in order to get the perfect fit and finish of the end product. There are literally hundreds of different steps that they go through but the main few include the heating of all the metals. While many of the applications used run from the beginning of the day to the end, the heat treatments of steel, iron and other metals usually run non stop.
When the heat is generated so hot, it pushes it into a furnace where they cause the reaction when made in contact with the other components and changes to form a new structure where newer metal is made. Like the iron making, the steel uses smaller particles of atoms where they are mixed and the reaction causes the carbon inside the mixture to be taken out hence allowing the steel to mould and form itself.
Another main part is when they cool the metal. While you think freezing water can cool a hot piece of metal, in this case it takes up to weeks to cool a slab of metal down. The block or sheet of metal is run through machines where high pressure water systems and pushed to attempt to cool the metal as much as possible and as effective as possible. The metal sheet will constantly run back and forth and will repeat the process a number of times.
A brief history of Port Kembla
When production was made in the section where they made metals began in the early 1800’s, the first main change was when the railway was built.
This allowed more efficient transportation in moving the amount of matter around. This whole new change happened around the late 18100’s to the early 1900’s. But due to this, there was so much amount of