Electric Arc Furnace Melting Patents: Who Leads and Where Filings Are Heading
Filings nearly tripled in three years — +207% between 2021 (27) and 2024 (83), the last year the data can treat as complete. Publications rose from 49 in 2017 to a peak of 83 in 2024, with the 2021→2024 span alone up 207%. The 2025 and 2026 figures (down to 9 by 2026) reflect publication lag rather than a real slowdown — filings made in the last 18 months have not finished publishing yet.
- 1GRAFTECH INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC4.6%
- 2LAIR LIQUIDE SA POUR LETUDE & LEXPLOITATION DES PROCEDES GEORGES CLAUDE3.7%
- 3CHEMTREAT INC3.1%
- 4SMS GROUP GMBH2.9%
- 5MIDREX TECHNOLOGIES INC2.6%
See the full electric arc furnace melting analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about electric arc furnace melting patents
Who holds the most patents in electric arc furnace melting?
Within this dataset of 1,908 records, one assignee leads with 87 records, well ahead of fifth place at 50 and tenth place at 35. The top 5 assignees combined hold 16.9% of all records and the top 10 hold 27.5%, which means the majority of filings come from a long tail of companies with smaller portfolios. No single company controls the field, so competitive tracking needs to cover the mid-tier as well as the leader.
Is patent filing in electric arc furnace technology growing or slowing down?
It is growing. Publications rose from 49 in 2017 to a peak of 83 in 2024, and the 2021-to-2024 span alone shows +207% growth. The apparent decline in 2025 and 2026 is a publication-lag artefact: patent publications typically trail filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years always look understated in any trend chart. Treat 2024 as the last complete year for growth comparisons.
What technical areas get the most patent claims in EAF melting?
Steelmaking process claims (IPC class C21C) appear in 51.0% of the 1,908 records, and furnace details and accessories (F27D) in 37.1% — together these describe the bulk of filing activity. Electric heating and control circuits (H05B) cover 24.9%. By contrast, ceramics and refractories (C04B) sit at just 3.9% and non-metallic inorganic compounds (C01B) at 4.5%, both thin relative to how central refractory wear and slag chemistry are to furnace operation.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electric Arc Furnace Melting covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.