17 Facts About Cast iron

Cast iron was used in ancient China for warfare, agriculture, and architecture.

Cast iron is made from pig iron, which is the product of melting iron ore in a blast furnace.

Cast iron can be made directly from the molten pig iron or by re-melting pig iron, often along with substantial quantities of iron, steel, limestone, carbon and taking various steps to remove undesirable contaminants.

Cast iron is sometimes melted in a special type of blast furnace known as a cupola, but in modern applications, it is more often melted in electric induction furnaces or electric arc furnaces.

Cast iron's properties are changed by adding various alloying elements, or alloyants.

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The carbon in the form of graphite results in a softer Cast iron, reduces shrinkage, lowers strength, and decreases density.

In white Cast iron, boron is added to aid in the production of malleable Cast iron; it reduces the coarsening effect of bismuth.

Grey cast iron is characterised by its graphitic microstructure, which causes fractures of the material to have a grey appearance.

Grey cast iron has less tensile strength and shock resistance than steel, but its compressive strength is comparable to low- and medium-carbon steel.

White iron is too brittle for use in many structural components, but with good hardness and abrasion resistance and relatively low cost, it finds use in such applications as the wear surfaces of slurry pumps, shell liners and lifter bars in ball mills and autogenous grinding mills, balls and rings in coal pulverisers, and the teeth of a backhoe's digging bucket .

High-chromium white iron alloys allow massive castings to be sand cast, as the chromium reduces cooling rate required to produce carbides through the greater thicknesses of material.

Cast iron is comparatively brittle, it is not suitable for purposes where a sharp edge or flexibility is required.

Cast iron was invented in China in the 5th century BC and poured into molds to make ploughshares and pots as well as weapons and pagodas.

The Chinese developed a method of annealing cast iron by keeping hot castings in an oxidizing atmosphere for a week or longer in order to burn off some carbon near the surface in order to keep the surface layer from being too brittle.

Soon, English iron workers using blast furnaces developed the technique of producing cast-iron cannons, which, while heavier than the prevailing bronze cannons, were much cheaper and enabled England to arm her navy better.

Cast iron was used sometimes for decorative facades, especially in the United States, and the Soho district of New York has numerous examples.

Cast iron became widely used, and many towns had foundries producing industrial and agricultural machinery.