Electroslag remelting (ESR) today and into the future, will still be the main process for producing
high-quality ingots by suppressing segregation, not just refining chemical composition from
impurities. This paper analyses state-of-the-art electroslag refining with a focus on ESR with
consumable electrodes, and recent technology with liquid metal supply (ESR LM) in view of their
refining abilities and development trends, taking into consideration that the size of the ingots required
by industry continues to grow, and the composition of new materials sophisticates to withstand
increasingly higher mechanical and temperature loads . The yield of suitable metal in large ingots
produced by conventional casting is low due to problems of element segregation by height and crosssection.
For example, conventional ingots for nuclear powerplant rotors today reach nearly 700 t in
weight. Attempts to directly replace such giant ingots with big-diameter ESR ingots weighing
approximately 400 t were also unsuccessful because of growing segregation. Modern ESR
equipment and technologies produce 200–250 t of ingots of satisfactory quality, reaching 2.5 m in
diameter, implementing the change of consumable electrodes during remelting to increase ingot
length. Another way to mitigate segregation is to enlarge the smaller diameter ESR ingot by a 500–
800 mm coaxial layer to the desirable diameter by ESR in the current-supplying mould (CSM).
Modelling and experiments prove that refining from impurities and non-metallic inclusions at ESR
most effectively occurs at the slag bath and liquid metal pool interface because the ESR LM has
provided the same desulfurisation. ESR’s special refining capabilities in CSM come from the much
longer time of LM residence shown at titanium purification from hard-melting nitride inclusions that
are unremovable in vacuum arc remelting (VAR) and electron beam melting (EBM). Implementation
of ESR technologies in CSM, especially with LM supply, is prospective to produce heavy enlarged
and hollow forging ingots with prevented development of segregation due to dividing cross-section
and reducing overheat of solidifying metal.