Iron is one of the most important metals for modern industry. It is extracted from iron ore through a smelting process in a blast furnace. Hot air is blasted into the furnace to reduce the iron ore into molten iron, which separates from slag. The molten iron that remains is called pig iron. Pig iron can be further processed by remelting in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron, which is brittle but easy to cast and machine. Steel is also produced and contains carbon ranging from negligible to 1.5%, existing as cementite or graphite depending on concentration.
Iron is one of the most important metals for modern industry. It is extracted from iron ore through a smelting process in a blast furnace. Hot air is blasted into the furnace to reduce the iron ore into molten iron, which separates from slag. The molten iron that remains is called pig iron. Pig iron can be further processed by remelting in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron, which is brittle but easy to cast and machine. Steel is also produced and contains carbon ranging from negligible to 1.5%, existing as cementite or graphite depending on concentration.
Iron is one of the most important metals for modern industry. It is extracted from iron ore through a smelting process in a blast furnace. Hot air is blasted into the furnace to reduce the iron ore into molten iron, which separates from slag. The molten iron that remains is called pig iron. Pig iron can be further processed by remelting in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron, which is brittle but easy to cast and machine. Steel is also produced and contains carbon ranging from negligible to 1.5%, existing as cementite or graphite depending on concentration.
Iron is one of the most important metals for modern industry. It is extracted from iron ore through a smelting process in a blast furnace. Hot air is blasted into the furnace to reduce the iron ore into molten iron, which separates from slag. The molten iron that remains is called pig iron. Pig iron can be further processed by remelting in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron, which is brittle but easy to cast and machine. Steel is also produced and contains carbon ranging from negligible to 1.5%, existing as cementite or graphite depending on concentration.
The earth contains a large number of metals which are useful to man. One of the most important of these is iron. Modem industry needs crmsiderable quantities of this metal, either in the form of iron or in the form of steel. A certain number of non-ferrous metals, including aluminium and zinc, are also important, but even today the majority of our engineering products are of iron or steel. Moreover, iron possesses magnetic properties, which have made the development of electrical power possible. The iron ore which we find in the earth is not pure. It contains some im purities which we must remove by smelting. The process of smelting consists of heating the ore in a blast furnace with coke and limestone, and reducing it to metal. Blasts of hot air enter the furnace from the bottom and provide the oxygen which is necessary for the reduction of the ore. The ore becomes molten, and its oxides combine with carbon from the coke. The non-metallic constituents of the ore combine with the limestone to form a liquid slag.
REFRACTORY LINING
TO OUST CATCHER
LADLE
HOT BLAST Pl PE
Cross-section of blast furnace
1 This floats on top of the molten iron, and passes out of the furnace through a tap. The metal which remains is pig-iron. We can melt this down again in another furnace - a cupola - with more coke and limestone, and tap it out into a ladle or directly into moulds. This is cast-iron. Cast-iron does not have the strength of steel. It is brittle and may fracture under tension. But it possesses certain properties which make it very useful in the manufacture of machinery. In the molten state it is very fluid, and therefore it is easy to cast it into intricate shapes. Also it is easy to machine it. Cast-iron contains small proportions of other substances. These non metallic constituents of cast-iron include carbon, silicon and sulphur, and the presence of these substances affects the behaviour of the metal. Iron which contains a negligible quantity of carbon, for example wrought-iron, behaves differently from iron which contains a lot of carbon. The carbon in cast-iron is present partly as free graphite and partly as a chemical combination of iron and carbon which we call cementite. This is a very hard substance, and it makes the iron hard too. However, iron can only hold about 1 ½% of cementite. Any carbon content above that percentage is present in the form of a flaky graphite. Steel contains no free graphite, and its carbon content ranges from almost nothing to 1½%- We make wire and tubing from mild steel with a very low carbon content, and drills and cutting tools from high carbon steel.
WORD STUDY Negligible, Considerable, Substantial, etc.
A negligible amount of something is very small.
It is so small that we can neglect or ignore it.
A considerable An appreciable . . . } amount of something 1s quite large. A substantial A material An appreciable amount is large enough to be worth appreciating or noticing. A considerable amount is large enough to be worth considering or noticing. A substantial amount is large enough to be noticed, like a substance. A material amount is large enough to be noticed, like a material.
Melt, Molten, Smelt
Ice-cream melts in the sun.
Ice melts in the summer. The melted ice comes down the mountain in rivers.
At a certain temperature, metals melt. They become molten.
The molten iron passes out of the furnace into moulds.
Advances in Fire Safety Engineering: Selected Papers From The 5th Iberian-Latin-American Congress On Fire Safety, CILASCI 5, July 15-17, 2019, Porto, Portugal Paulo A. G. Piloto 2024 Scribd Download
Advances in Fire Safety Engineering: Selected Papers From The 5th Iberian-Latin-American Congress On Fire Safety, CILASCI 5, July 15-17, 2019, Porto, Portugal Paulo A. G. Piloto 2024 Scribd Download
