Electromagnetic fields have been widely applied in the field of materials processing, preparation, and analysis. The effectiveness during such processing is, however, highly dependent on the physics of the applied electromagnetic field as well as the electromagnetic responses from the materials. In order to improve the efficiency of electromagnetic field processing, understanding the fundamentals as well as the engineering of the corresponding electromagnetic effects is crucial. Focusing on metallic materials, this research gives a critical overview and discussion on different electromagnetic effects. Subsequently, the electromagnetic responses in different electromagnetic technologies are further discussed. Specifically, the industrial application potential for inclusion removal from liquid metals is evaluated and the energy coefficient is noticed to be substantially improved by increasing the magnetic flux density.