Abstract: In the production of medium carbon steel wire rod, upon leaving the hot rolling mill, the rod is cooled in two phases. The first phase is operative as the rod moves at end-of-rolling speed along a cooling line disposed between the finishing block and feed rollers disposed at the entry of a head for placing the rod in overlapping turns on a conveyor, the cooling line being continuous--i.e. being devoid of air cooling breaks between consecutive intensive cooling sections, the length and capacity of the cooling line being such that the surface temperature of the rod at the end of the first phase is between, on the one hand, the start-of-martensitic-transformation temperature for the particular steel concerned and, on the other hand, the latter temperature plus 200.degree. C.

Abstract: A process for producing rolled steel products, especially reinforcing rod for concrete or other elements to be encased in concrete and having good weldability, a high yield strength and high energy absorption for the Charpy V impact test at very low temperatures comprising forming a silicon and aluminum containing steel whose carbon content (C), manganese content (MN), and niobium content (NB) are related by the relationship set forth below. The steel blank is rolled so that the last three passes result in more than 20% of the total cross section reduction, these rolling passes are carried out so that the temperature T1 before, the temperature T2 during, and the temperature T3 after rolling are also related to the diameter D in the manner set forth below to yield a high yield strength LE and a high energy absorption expressed as KCV at -120.degree. C. The relationships are:LE=1035+510 C+192 MN+2270 NB-0.21 T1-0.42 T2-0.48 T3-3.51 DandKCV=2202-2066 C+23.20 MN-2064 NB-0.77 T1-1.24 T2-0.23 T3-1.98 D.

Abstract: The reducing power of gases liberated at the top of the charge of an industrial furnace is determined by a method wherein the energy radiated from the charge in the range, for example between 1 and 6 microns, covering the radiant energy emitted by the compounds CO.sub.2, CO, H.sub.2, and CH.sub.4 is continuously measured in a multiplicity of detection points distributed over the entire upper surface of the charge and outputs are formed corresponding to the energy radiated at each of the points. An energy image of the energy radiated at the points in the range is formed from the outputs. This energy image is converted into respective specific images for the compounds by isolating from the energy image for each detection point the radiant energy emitted by the compounds. The concentration of each of the compounds at each of the points is calculated from the intensity of the respective specific image.