Everything about Pig Iron totally explained
Pig iron is the intermediate product of
smelting iron ore with
coke and
resin. Pig iron has a very high
carbon content, typically 3.5 - 4.5%, which makes it very
brittle and not useful directly as a material except for limited applications.
The traditional shape of the molds used for these
ingots was a branching structure formed in
sand, with many individual ingots at right angles to a central channel or
runner. Such a configuration is similar in appearance to a litter of
piglets suckling on a
sow. When the metal had cooled and hardened, the smaller ingots (the
pigs) were simply broken from the much thinner runner (the
sow), hence the name
pig iron. As pig iron is intended for remelting, the uneven size of the ingots and inclusion of small amounts of sand was insignificant compared to the ease of casting and of handling.
The
Chinese were making pig iron by the later
Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC). In
Europe, the process didn't become common until the
14th century.
Uses
Pig iron is typically poured directly out of the bottom of the
blast furnace through a
trough into a
ladle car for transfer to the steel plant in liquid form, referred to as
hot metal. The hot metal is then charged into a
steelmaking vessel to produce
steel, typically with an
electric arc furnace or
basic oxygen furnace, by burning off the excess carbon in a controlled fashion and adjusting the
alloy composition. Earlier processes for this included the
Bessemer process,
open hearth furnace,
finery forge, and the
puddling furnace.
Modern
steel mills and
direct-reduction iron plants transfer the molten iron to a ladle for immediate use in the steel making furnaces or cast it into pigs on a pig casting machine for reuse or resale. Modern pig casting machines produce stick pigs, which break into smaller 4-10 kg pieces at discharge.
Pig iron can also be used to produce
cast iron. This is achieved by remelting pig iron, often along with substantial quantities of
scrap iron, and removing undesirable contaminants, adding alloys, and adjusting the carbon content.
Refining
Pig iron is melted and a strong current of air is directed over it while it's being stirred or agitated. This causes the dissolved impurities (such as silicon) to be thoroughly oxidized. The metal is then cast into molds or used in other processes. This is known as
refined pig iron,
finers metal or
refined iron.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pig Iron'.
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