At our Faircrest Steel Plant, steel is bottom poured into ingots.  The ingot molds are arranged on an ingot car in a cluster around a central filling tube called the trumpet.  A ladle is moved into position and the molten steel stream is carefully flow-controlled into the trumpet.

The steel, protected from unwanted environmental gasses by a shroud of inert gas, flows down the trumpet, through runners at the bottom of the ingot cluster, and fills the ingots from the bottom up.

Bottom pouring creates steel with superior cleanness and promotes excellent surface quality.

A heat of steel produces approximately 24 ingots, each weighing nearly seven tons.  The large 28" x 28" cross-section ingot provides a nearly six-to-one reduction ratio, down to 13" product, enhancing the steel's physical properties.