Chamber heated with electricity to very high temperatures, for melting and alloying
metals and
refractories. Modern electric furnaces generally are either
arc furnaces or induction furnaces. Arc furnaces produce roughly two-fifths of the
steel made in the U.S. In the induction furnace, a coil carrying alternating electric current surrounds the container or chamber of metal; circulating eddy currents induced in the metal produce extremely high temperatures.
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