Electric arc furnace is use of electrode arc generated by high-temperature melting ore and metal, gas discharge arcing when the energy is concentrated, the arc temperature is 3000 degrees or more. For the melting metal, compared with other steel-making furnaces, EAF process is most flexibility, can effectively remove the sulfur, phosphorus and other impurities, temperature easy to control, small footprint, suitable for high-quality alloy steel smelting.

Electric arc furnace according to arc forms can be divided into " three-phase electric arc furnace", "consumable electrode arc furnace", "single-phase electric arc furnace" and "the resistance of electric arc furnace" and other types.

EAF steel-making is through the graphite electrodes input the energy to the electric arc steel making furnace, due to the arc which is generated between the electrodes tip and the material in the furnace as heat source for steelmaking. Electric arc furnace is with electric power as the heat source, can adjust the furnace atmosphere, and it's extremely beneficial to melt the kind of steel which contain more easily oxidized elements.

Shortly after the invention of electric arc furnace steel-making, it used to smelt steel, and get a larger development. With the improvements of electric arc furnace smelting technology as well as the improvement of electric power industry development, the cost of electric arc furnace steel-making reduced more and more, and now not only for the production of electric arc furnace produce alloy steel, and a large number of ordinary carbon steel used in the production, and the proportion of the total output of steel production has been rising in major industrial countries.