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Charcoal Iron
Charcoal iron is the substance created by the smelting of iron ore with charcoal. All ironmaking blast furnaces were fueled by charcoal until Abraham Darby introduced coke as a fuel in 1709. The more economical coke soon replaced charcoal in British furnaces, but in the United States, where timber for charcoal was abundant, charcoal furnaces lingered much longer. Even after the introduction of anthracite smelting to the US in 1839, and the development of American coke production later in the century, charcoal iron continued to find favor because of its heat-resistance, toughness, and malleability. The last charcoal furnace in the US did not close until 1945. In Britain, the penultimate furnace built was Alderwasley in 1764, followed by Warsash Furnace in 1869. The last working furnace at Backbarrow converted to coke in 1922. In Western Australia, pig iron was made using charcoal between 1948 and 1981 at Wundowie. At its peak, operating two charcoal-fueled blast furnaces, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal base behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil fuel source of carbon, such as coke—or, in earlier times, charcoal. The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures due to the lower potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (). Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is converted into steel. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from the ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product. The carbon source is oxidized in two stages. First, the carbon (C) combusts with oxygen (O2) in the air to produce carbon monoxide (CO). Second, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally "Beautiful Horizon"), is a major urban and finance center in Latin America, and the sixth largest municipality in Brazil, after the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília and Fortaleza, but its metropolitan area is the third largest in Brazil with just over 5.8 million inhabitants, after those of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Nine Brazilian presidents were born in Minas Gerais, the most of any state. The state has 10.1% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 8.7% of the Brazilian GDP. With an area of —larger than Metropolitan France—it is the fourth most extensive state in Brazil. The main producer of coffee and milk in the country, Minas Gerais is known for its heritage of architecture and colonia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harrison Ainslie
The firm of Harrison Ainslie & Co. was a British firm of ironmasters and iron ore merchants, selling high quality haematite from their mines on Lindal Moor to smelters in Glasgow, Scotland, South Wales and the Midlands. From a 21st-century perspective, they are more interesting as the last operators of charcoal-fired blast furnaces in Great Britain. Their furnaces were stone-built, water-powered, and much smaller than the coke-fired furnaces of the same era. Managers At various times the company was known as Richard Ford & Co, the Newland Co, George Knott & Co, Knott, Ainslie & Co, Harrison Ainslie & Co, Harrison Ainslie, Roper & Co, and finally as Harrison Ainslie & Co Ltd. Associated companies were the Hampshire Haematite Iron Co, Melfort Gunpowder Co, Lorn Furnace Co and Barrow & Ulverston Rope Co. Newland Furnace was built in 1747 by Richard Ford, William Ford, Michael Knott and James Backhouse. Richard Ford was born in Middlewich in 1697. He was active in the Furness ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Swordsmithing
Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan for forging traditionally made bladed weapons ( ''nihonto'') including ''katana'', ''wakizashi'', ''tantō'', ''yari'', ''naginata'', ''nagamaki'', ''tachi'', '' nodachi'', ''ōdachi'', ''kodachi'', and ''ya'' (arrow). Japanese sword blades were often forged with different profiles, different blade thicknesses, and varying amounts of grind. ''Wakizashi'' and ''tantō'' were not simply scaled-down ''katana'' but were often forged without a ridge (''hira-zukuri'') or other such forms which were very rare on ''katana''. Traditional methods Steel production The steel used in sword production is known as , or "jewel steel" (''tama'' – ball or jewel, ''hagane'' – steel). ''Tamahagane'' is produced from iron sand, a source of iron ore, and mainly used to make samurai swords, such as the ''katana'', and some tools. The smelting process used is different from the modern mass production of st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamahagane
''Tamahagane'' (玉鋼) is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word ''tama'' means "precious". The word ''hagane'' means "steel". Tamahagane is used to make Japanese swords, knives, and other kinds of tools. The carbon content of the majority of analyzed Japanese swords historically lies between 0.5–0.7 mass%; however, the range extends up to 1.5%. Production Tamahagane is made of an iron sand (''satetsu'') found in Shimane, Japan. There are two main types of iron sands: ''akame satetsu'' (赤目砂鉄) and ''masa satetsu'' (真砂砂鉄). Akame is lower quality, masa is better quality. The 'murage' decides the amount of the mixing parts. Depending on the desired result, the murage mixes one or more types of sands. The iron sand is put in a tatara, a clay tub furnace. The clay tub measures about tall, long and {{convert, 4, ft, m wide. The tub is dried and heated to about 1,000 ° C (1800 ° F). Then, it is mixed with charcoal to add carbon to the steel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blast Furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a blast furnace, fuel ( coke), ores, and flux (limestone) are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while a hot blast of air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section of the furnace through a series of pipes called tuyeres, so that the chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the material falls downward. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, and waste gases (flue gas) exiting from the top of the furnace. The downward flow of the ore along with the flux in contact with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent exchange and chemical reaction process. In contrast, air furnaces (such as reverbera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Direct Reduced Iron
Direct reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore (in the form of lumps, pellets, or fines) into iron by a reducing gas or elemental carbon produced from natural gas or coal. Many ores are suitable for direct reduction. Direct reduction refers to solid-state processes which reduce iron oxides to metallic iron at temperatures below the melting point of iron. Reduced iron derives its name from these processes, one example being heating iron ore in a furnace at a high temperature of in the presence of the reducing gas syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Process Direct reduction processes can be divided roughly into two categories: gas-based, and coal-based. In both cases, the objective of the process is to remove the oxygen contained in various forms of iron ore (sized ore, concentrates, pellets, mill scale, furnace dust, etc.), in order to convert the ore to metallic iron, without melting it (below ). The dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatara (furnace)
The is the traditional Japanese furnace used for smelting iron and steel. The word later also came to mean the entire building housing the furnace. The traditional steel in Japan comes from ironsand processed in a special way, called tatara system.https://www.jsme.or.jp/tsd/ICBTT/conference02/TatsuoINOUE.html "Science of Tatara and Japanese Sword - Traditional Technology viewed from Modern Science" by Tatsuo INOUE Iron ore was used in the first steel manufacturing in Japan. Tatara steelmaking process using ironsand was conducted in the Kibi Province, which later became the base of the Bizen school of swordsmithing, around the middle of the sixth century, and steelmaking using ironsand is thought to have spread from Kibi to various places in Japan. In western Japan, a low box-shaped furnace different from the Chinese and Korean style was used to refine iron, and in eastern Japan, both a low box-shaped furnace and a vertical furnace unique to Japan were used. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ironsand
Ironsand, also known as iron-sand or iron sand, is a type of sand with heavy concentrations of iron. It is typically dark grey or blackish in colour. It is composed mainly of magnetite, Fe3O4, and also contains small amounts of titanium, silica, manganese, calcium and vanadium. Ironsand has a tendency to heat up in direct sunlight, causing temperatures high enough to cause minor burns. As such it forms a hazard in New Zealand at popular west-coast surf beaches such as Piha. Occurrence Ironsand is found worldwide. Although the iron mineral composition of the ironsand is mostly magnetite, the sand is usually mixed with other types of sand that washes downriver or ashore from mountainous or underwater deposits. The exact composition of the sand mixture may vary drastically even in the same geographic region. In some areas the sand may contain mostly quartz, while in others the sand may be made primarily from volcanic rock such as basalt, depending on the types of minerals along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatara (furnace)
The is the traditional Japanese furnace used for smelting iron and steel. The word later also came to mean the entire building housing the furnace. The traditional steel in Japan comes from ironsand processed in a special way, called tatara system.https://www.jsme.or.jp/tsd/ICBTT/conference02/TatsuoINOUE.html "Science of Tatara and Japanese Sword - Traditional Technology viewed from Modern Science" by Tatsuo INOUE Iron ore was used in the first steel manufacturing in Japan. Tatara steelmaking process using ironsand was conducted in the Kibi Province, which later became the base of the Bizen school of swordsmithing, around the middle of the sixth century, and steelmaking using ironsand is thought to have spread from Kibi to various places in Japan. In western Japan, a low box-shaped furnace different from the Chinese and Korean style was used to refine iron, and in eastern Japan, both a low box-shaped furnace and a vertical furnace unique to Japan were used. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wundowie Charcoal Iron And Wood Distillation Plant
The Wundowie charcoal iron and wood distillation plant manufactured pig iron between 1948 and 1981 and wood distillation products between 1950 and 1977, at Wundowie, Western Australia. Originally a state-owned enterprise, it seems not to have been incorporated as a company, during the time it was known as the Charcoal Iron and Steel Industry. At its greatest extent, the plant comprised two blast furnaces, a metal foundry, sawmill, retorts for charcoal production, a power plant, and a refinery for wood distillation products. The planned garden town of Wundowie, approximately east of Perth by road and west of Northam, was built to provide accommodation for the workers of the plant. From 1966, the plant was privately managed by Australian National Industries, and its workers became employees of that company. The plant was sold by the government in 1974 to Agnew-Clough Ltd. Production of iron ceased in 1981. The foundry continued in operation, under several different owners, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (, 72.4% Fe), hematite (, 69.9% Fe), goethite (, 62.9% Fe), limonite (, 55% Fe) or siderite (, 48.2% Fe). Ores containing very high quantities of hematite or magnetite (greater than about 60% iron) are known as "natural ore" or "direct shipping ore", meaning they can be fed directly into iron-making blast furnaces. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel—98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel. In 2011 the ''Financial Times'' quoted Christopher LaFemina, mining analyst at Barclays Capital, saying that iron ore is "more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil". Sources Metallic iron is virtually unknown on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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