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Chapter 936 This is how steel is made

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    As for the greenhouse on the other side, it is used for coal washing.

    Mainly through the impact of water flow, raw coal with different specific gravity is separated into different grades, and dust and waste rocks are removed to reduce ash and sulfur content.

    But the clean coal obtained in this way is not used directly, but is sent to the earth kiln behind the greenhouse for smoldering.

    ??????????????????????????????????????????:????????? On the rows of earthen kilns like tombs on the ground, and from the chimneys made of bricks, yellow-brown smoke was rising slowly.

    The smoke is very choking and can make people burst into tears and cough from afar.

    Secretary Ma immediately put on a mask and goggles for the young master.  Then she and the guards also protected themselves, leaving Wang Yu stunned for a moment.

    Zhao Hao asked the guard to give him a set. Wang Yu imitated his example and put it on. He immediately felt that his breathing was much easier and his eyes no longer shed tears.  I couldn't help but feel admiration again He didn't like coming to the steel workshop very much, largely because the smoke was too smoky.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that Mr. Zhao had already found a way to deal with it.

    Wearing a mask, Uncle Wang can finally continue to introduce to Mr. Zhao that this is making coke - relying on the heat of the combustion of bituminous coal in the kiln, the coal is heated layer by layer. After eight to ten days of smoldering, the coke is mature.  Then water is added to quench the coke, and the ashes are removed in a cold furnace. The unburned part is coke.

    Although in Zhao Hao's view, this method is not only time-consuming and has a low coke rate, but the most fatal flaw is that the ash content is too high, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of the coke.  However, before 01 Institute found out a practical coke oven, this was already the world's leading level.

    It would take more than 150 years before Europe could learn to use coke to make steel.

    ??~~

    Today, the coke could not come out of the kiln, but Zhao Hao still went to the iron-making furnace and saw a pile of tarnished, gray-white fuel that was the coke that had been made before.

    As for the cylindrical iron-making furnace, which is as tall as a person, the inner wall is made of clay mixed with salt, which is more than a foot thick. The outside is fixed with a circle of solid log piles, and then a wrought iron ring is used to resemble a hoop.  Likewise, tightly hoop the entire stove.

    Wang Yu told Zhao Hao that building such a stove would take at least a few months, so he should not be hasty and quick.  Otherwise, once cracks appear in the salt mud, all previous efforts will be wasted and danger may arise.

    Such an iron-making furnace can hold more than two thousand kilograms of iron ore.  Before igniting, a layer of coke is first spread in the furnace, followed by a layer of a mixture of ore sand and pulverized coal. After the layers are covered layer by layer, the furnace is ignited from the bottom and refining begins.

    Next to the iron-making furnace, there is a huge blower, with two men wearing only calf-nosed robes at each end, pushing and pulling rhythmically to supply air to the iron-making furnace.

    The iron-making master told Zhao Hao that after the ore inside is melted into molten iron, it will flow out from the waist hole of the iron-making furnace.  This hole was plugged with mud beforehand.  Every hour during the day, the mud plug is opened and the molten iron flows out.

    After the molten iron flows clean, immediately use a fork to move the mud, plug the hole again, and then continue blasting and smelting. Wait for an hour before opening the hole to release the molten iron.

    This method seems to be less sophisticated than the crucible method.  However, in the crucible method, there is no contact between the ore and the coke, which makes the coke only play the role of fuel, but does not play its role as carburizing agent, reducing agent and material column.

    On the contrary, this method of direct mixing and calcination can bring out all the four major functions of coke, and the quality of the steel produced will naturally be higher.

    ??~~

    Zhao Hao stood far away, out of reach of the blazing fire, waiting for the next opening.

    Fortunately, although only half of the iron-making furnaces in Wangji Steel Factory are working, there are still as many as ten.  After a while, a furnace opened.

    Although Zhao Hao was far away, he could still feel the scorching heat contained in the fiery red molten iron.  He watched intently as the molten iron followed the stone diversion trough and flowed into a square pond next to it.

    Wang Yu told Mr. Zhao that the molten iron flowing out was pig iron.  If you want to use pig iron for smelting, pour it into the mold, cool it and use it directly.  But this kind of pig iron was of poor quality and not worth much. Wang Ji never bothered to make it.

    They also have to smelt pig iron into mature iron in that square pond.

    The square pond was made using the same method as the iron-making furnace, but it was only one and a half feet tall.  A slightly higher platform was built with bricks next to it. The iron smelting master and apprentices stood on the platform to prevent the molten iron from overflowing due to too much molten iron.

    When the molten iron flows into the pond, the iron smelting master quickly sprinkles the prepared fine mud powder evenly on the surface of the molten iron.

    "saute!"

    After the master gave the order, several apprentices stirred vigorously with willow sticks and fried the pig iron into mature iron.  Every time a willow stick is fried, two or three inches will be burned, and a new one will have to be replaced every time it is fried.

    ?This is the famous ¡®fried steel method¡¯, which can oxidize the silicon, manganese and carbon in pig iron and reduce the carbon content to the level of steel or wrought iron.  If the temperature can be two to three hundred degrees higher, the moment to witness the miracle will come Unfortunately, it is not possible yet.

    ¡®It¡¯s true that latte is used as a stir-fry dish.  ¡¯ Mr. Zhao couldn¡¯t help but admire secretly.

    He knew that according to this method, most of what would be fried would be steel, and it would be low carbon steel.  But in the eyes of the craftsmen at this time, what was fried in this step could only be called wrought iron.

    ?In fact, it is the difference in definitions that leads to this disagreement.

    In Zhao Hao¡¯s concept, pig iron, steel, and wrought iron are all a type of iron-carbon alloy.  The carbon content exceeding 2.11% is pig iron, and the carbon content below 0.02% is wrought iron.  In between is steel.  Therefore, steel can also be divided into high carbon steel, medium carbon steel and low carbon steel according to different carbon content Anyway, as long as the carbon content is between pig iron and wrought iron, it is all steel.

    But the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty would never agree with Mr. Zhao¡¯s hasty classification.

    Yes, ¡®steel¡¯ is absolutely sacred to craftsmen in this era. Only a small portion of steel with few impurities and high hardness will be given the title of ¡®steel¡¯ and used on blades.  Anything that has not been tempered, whether it is low carbon steel, medium carbon steel, or even high carbon steel, is all classified as wrought iron

    Therefore, Zhao Hao¡¯s First Five-Year Plan requires an annual production of one ton of tool steel, which is not an easy goal.

    ??~~

    Even for a large iron smelting company like Wang Ji, more than 90% of its products are 'wrought iron' products some of which are cast into various tools, weapons and armor.  Part of it is directly cut into squares in the pond, and after cooling, it is taken out and hammered into round pieces, and then sold directly.

    01 Institute purchased a large amount of wrought iron billets produced by Wang Ji. The quality is naturally very good, but it is still far from enough for making guns and cannons.  But it must be forged repeatedly to remove impurities before it can be usedit can still withstand being used to make guns.  If used to make cannons, the cost would be too high.

    In the end, less than 10% of high-quality wrought iron will be used to make steel.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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