Grey or white pig? The importance of the starting material whether fining iron in charcoal hearths, clay pots or puddling furnaces
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Published
Jan 1, 2022
Abstract
This is the fourth and final paper on the importance of the type of iron which came from an 18th-century blast furnace. It deals with fining, turning the pig iron into malleable or wrought iron. Whether fining using charcoal or coal, the most important factor was whether the pig iron starting point was a high-silicon grey iron or a low-silicon white one. Both the chemical influence of silicon and the physical state that it induced was important. A grey iron contained graphite and melted to a proper liquid which was much more difficult to oxidise than the pasty mix that a white iron produced. Carbon in the form of graphite (in grey iron) was much slower to diffuse than when it was in the form of iron carbide (in white iron). These key differences influenced the fining processes in the early charcoal finery hearths, and in the potting and stamping processes, as much as they did in puddling.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Keywords
References
Awty B G 1996, ‘Early cast irons and the impact of fuel availability on their production’, Historical Metallurgy 30(1), 17-22.
Awty B G 2006, ‘The elusive Walloon finery forges of Liege’, Historical Metallurgy 40(2), 129-137.
Awty B G, 2019, Adventures in Iron, part 1 (Tonbridge).
Banken R 2005, ‘The diffusion of coke smelting and puddling in Germany 1796-1860’, in C Evans and G Ryden (eds), The Industrial Revolution in iron (Aldershot), 55-72.
Bauerman H 1890, Metallurgy of iron (London).
Belhoste J-F and Woronoff D 2005, ‘The French iron and steel industry during the industrial revolution’, in C Evans and G Ryden (eds), The Industrial Revolution in iron (Aldershot), 75-94.
Bell I L 1884, The principles of the manufacture of iron and steel (London).
Bodsworth C 1963, The physical chemistry of iron and steel manufacture (London).
Bouchu M (trans) 1780, ‘Section IV Traite de fer par Swedenborg [1734]’, Descriptions des Arts et Metiers, vol 2 (Neuchatel), 230-544.
Elliott R 1988, Cast iron technology (London).
Evans C 2001, Global commerce and industrial organisation in an eighteenth-century Welsh enterprise: the Melingriffith company, Welsh History Review 20(3), 423-34.
Geerdes M, Chaigneau R, Kurunov I, Lingiardi O and Rickets J (eds) 2015, Modern blast furnace iron making: an introduction (Amsterdam).
Greenwood W H and Sexton A H 1902, Steel and iron (London).
Hassenfratz J H 1812, La sidérotechnie, ou, l’art de traiter les minérais de fer, vol 3 (Paris).
Hayman R 2004, ‘The Cranage Brothers and eighteenth-century forge technology’, Historical Metallurgy 38(2), 113-20.
Hume Rothery W 1966, The structures of alloys of iron (Oxford).
Ince L 1991, The Knight family and the British iron industry, 1695-1902 (London).
Jars M 1774, Voyages metallurgique (Paris). Karsten C J B (trans) 1814, Geschicht des Eisens [by S Rinman], Vol 1 (Liegnitz).
Karsten C J B 1818, ‘Ubersicht des jenigen Instandes des Bergbaus und Huttenwesens in Schlesien’, Archiv fur Bergbau und Huttenwesen 1, 3-81.
Karsten C J B 1841, Handbuch der Eisenhuttenkunde, vol 4 (Berlin).
King P W 2011, ‘Iron in 1790: production statistics 1787-96 and the arrival of puddling’, Historical Metallurgy 45(2), 102-133.
Lemercier L 1983, L’industrie sidérurgique en Haute-Saône aux XVIIe et XIXe siècles (Vesoul).
McCormmach R 2014, The personality of Henry Cavendish – a great scientist with extraordinary peculiarities (Chamonix).
Mott R A (P Singer, ed) 1983, Henry Cort: the great finer (London).
Mushet D 1840, Papers on iron and steel (London).
Percy J 1864, Metallurgy,Vol 2: iron and steel (London).
Rathbone H M 1852, Letters of Richard Reynolds (London).
Sexton and Primrose 1907, An outline of the metallurgy of iron and steel (Manchester).
Schubert H R 1957, History of the British iron and steel industry (London).
Siemaszko N O 2011, Das oberschlessische Eisenhuttenwesen, 1740-1860 (Stuttgart).
Sisco A and Smith C S (trans) 1956, Réaumur’s memoirs on steel and iron (Chicago).
Thirria E 1840, ‘Mémoire sur les perfectionnements et modifications des procédés employés pour la fabrication du fer obtenu par l’affinage des fontes dans les foyers d’affinerie’, Annales des Mines 18, 215-292.
Thirria M and Ebelmen M 1840, ‘Résultats principaux des expériences faites dans le laboratoire de chemie de Vesoul’, Annales des Mines 17, 183-214.
Tunner P 1858, Die Stabeisen und Stahlbereitung in Frischherden, Vol 2 (Freiberg).
Tylecote R F 1962, Metallurgy in archaeology (London).
Tylecote R F 1991, ‘Iron in the Industrial Revolution’, in J Day and R F Tylecote (eds), The Industrial Revolution in metals (London), 200-260.
Ward R G 1965, An introduction to the physical chemistry of iron and steel making (London).
Williams R 2013, A question of grey or white: why Abraham Darby chose to smelt iron with coke, Historical Metallurgy 47(2), 125-137.
Williams R, 2017 ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, Part 1. Temperature of operation’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 22-33.
Williams R and De Haan D 2019, A link between the 1780s blast furnaces at Coalbrookdale and Staveley. The note of Mr Chas. Hornblower. Industrial Archaeology Review 41(2), 122-131.
Young T and Hart R 2016, ‘The refining process, part 1: a review of its origins and development’, Historical Metallurgy, 50(2), 95-108.
Young T and Hart R 2017, ‘The refining process, part 2: new data from Ynysfach Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 34-50.
Awty B G 2006, ‘The elusive Walloon finery forges of Liege’, Historical Metallurgy 40(2), 129-137.
Awty B G, 2019, Adventures in Iron, part 1 (Tonbridge).
Banken R 2005, ‘The diffusion of coke smelting and puddling in Germany 1796-1860’, in C Evans and G Ryden (eds), The Industrial Revolution in iron (Aldershot), 55-72.
Bauerman H 1890, Metallurgy of iron (London).
Belhoste J-F and Woronoff D 2005, ‘The French iron and steel industry during the industrial revolution’, in C Evans and G Ryden (eds), The Industrial Revolution in iron (Aldershot), 75-94.
Bell I L 1884, The principles of the manufacture of iron and steel (London).
Bodsworth C 1963, The physical chemistry of iron and steel manufacture (London).
Bouchu M (trans) 1780, ‘Section IV Traite de fer par Swedenborg [1734]’, Descriptions des Arts et Metiers, vol 2 (Neuchatel), 230-544.
Elliott R 1988, Cast iron technology (London).
Evans C 2001, Global commerce and industrial organisation in an eighteenth-century Welsh enterprise: the Melingriffith company, Welsh History Review 20(3), 423-34.
Geerdes M, Chaigneau R, Kurunov I, Lingiardi O and Rickets J (eds) 2015, Modern blast furnace iron making: an introduction (Amsterdam).
Greenwood W H and Sexton A H 1902, Steel and iron (London).
Hassenfratz J H 1812, La sidérotechnie, ou, l’art de traiter les minérais de fer, vol 3 (Paris).
Hayman R 2004, ‘The Cranage Brothers and eighteenth-century forge technology’, Historical Metallurgy 38(2), 113-20.
Hume Rothery W 1966, The structures of alloys of iron (Oxford).
Ince L 1991, The Knight family and the British iron industry, 1695-1902 (London).
Jars M 1774, Voyages metallurgique (Paris). Karsten C J B (trans) 1814, Geschicht des Eisens [by S Rinman], Vol 1 (Liegnitz).
Karsten C J B 1818, ‘Ubersicht des jenigen Instandes des Bergbaus und Huttenwesens in Schlesien’, Archiv fur Bergbau und Huttenwesen 1, 3-81.
Karsten C J B 1841, Handbuch der Eisenhuttenkunde, vol 4 (Berlin).
King P W 2011, ‘Iron in 1790: production statistics 1787-96 and the arrival of puddling’, Historical Metallurgy 45(2), 102-133.
Lemercier L 1983, L’industrie sidérurgique en Haute-Saône aux XVIIe et XIXe siècles (Vesoul).
McCormmach R 2014, The personality of Henry Cavendish – a great scientist with extraordinary peculiarities (Chamonix).
Mott R A (P Singer, ed) 1983, Henry Cort: the great finer (London).
Mushet D 1840, Papers on iron and steel (London).
Percy J 1864, Metallurgy,Vol 2: iron and steel (London).
Rathbone H M 1852, Letters of Richard Reynolds (London).
Sexton and Primrose 1907, An outline of the metallurgy of iron and steel (Manchester).
Schubert H R 1957, History of the British iron and steel industry (London).
Siemaszko N O 2011, Das oberschlessische Eisenhuttenwesen, 1740-1860 (Stuttgart).
Sisco A and Smith C S (trans) 1956, Réaumur’s memoirs on steel and iron (Chicago).
Thirria E 1840, ‘Mémoire sur les perfectionnements et modifications des procédés employés pour la fabrication du fer obtenu par l’affinage des fontes dans les foyers d’affinerie’, Annales des Mines 18, 215-292.
Thirria M and Ebelmen M 1840, ‘Résultats principaux des expériences faites dans le laboratoire de chemie de Vesoul’, Annales des Mines 17, 183-214.
Tunner P 1858, Die Stabeisen und Stahlbereitung in Frischherden, Vol 2 (Freiberg).
Tylecote R F 1962, Metallurgy in archaeology (London).
Tylecote R F 1991, ‘Iron in the Industrial Revolution’, in J Day and R F Tylecote (eds), The Industrial Revolution in metals (London), 200-260.
Ward R G 1965, An introduction to the physical chemistry of iron and steel making (London).
Williams R 2013, A question of grey or white: why Abraham Darby chose to smelt iron with coke, Historical Metallurgy 47(2), 125-137.
Williams R, 2017 ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, Part 1. Temperature of operation’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 22-33.
Williams R and De Haan D 2019, A link between the 1780s blast furnaces at Coalbrookdale and Staveley. The note of Mr Chas. Hornblower. Industrial Archaeology Review 41(2), 122-131.
Young T and Hart R 2016, ‘The refining process, part 1: a review of its origins and development’, Historical Metallurgy, 50(2), 95-108.
Young T and Hart R 2017, ‘The refining process, part 2: new data from Ynysfach Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 34-50.
How to Cite
Grey or white pig? The importance of the starting material whether fining iron in charcoal hearths, clay pots or puddling furnaces. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 53(2), 84-103. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/9
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Grey or white pig? The importance of the starting material whether fining iron in charcoal hearths, clay pots or puddling furnaces. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 53(2), 84-103. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/9