CHAPTER XXIII_Non-technical chats on iron and steel, and their application to modern industry

THE EQUILIBRIUM DIAGRAM OF THE IRON-CARBON ALLOYS

It was a great day for metallurgy when it was discovered that molten

mixtures were governed by the same natural laws which govern our

ordinary liquid solutions. Probably it was because most metallic alloys

are solid at ordinary temperatures and liquid only at very high ones

that for so long a time we failed to suspect their similarity.

If a sensitive pyrometer is inserted into an ordinary solution or a

molten alloy which is being gradually cooled, it indicates the first

instant that solidification (freezing) begins as well as the termination

of the freezing period. Unlike the freezing of water or a pure metal,

complete solidification ordinarily does not take place at a definite

single temperature but over a greater or lesser range of temperature. By

taking such upper and lower freezing-point measurements for many

different percentage compositions of a binary (two metal) alloy, for

instance, curves can be plotted which show accurately the habits of any

and all of the possible combinations (i.e., alloys) of those two metals.

Such are called “freezing-point” curves, and, as we shall see later on,

a study of them will give us much valuable and interesting information.

Such curves have been constructed for a great many alloys since the

discovery of the analogy between their behavior and that of aqueous

solutions led us to study alloys after the manner which physical

chemists found so satisfactory for the study of ordinary solutions.

Since the study of binary or two metal alloys is often very difficult,

it can be readily understood why the determination and interpretation of

the curves of alloys which contain three, four or more metals is a very

much more serious matter. Much of it has to be done by methods which are

long and tedious, such as quenching and microscopic study of innumerable

specimens taken during the freezing and subsequent cooling of various

alloys of each series. The value of the results depends upon the skill,

devotion and clear sightedness of those who carry out the work.

[Illustration:

THE FREEZING-POINT CURVES OF THE IRON-CARBON ALLOYS

]

The “freezing-point” and “decomposition” curves of the iron-carbon

series of alloys have been brought to their present stage of development

after something like twenty years of labor by investigators in many

lands. If we look at the diagram on page 345, we note at once that the

curves are quite complicated. Even yet they are not complete for all

percentage combinations of iron and carbon, and those who have given the

most time and study to the subject have not yet been able to interpret

with entire satisfaction to all concerned all of the discoveries so far

made.

Without endeavoring to take up in detail the technique of the manner of

their production, which would be unprofitable for us without a great

deal more of preliminary study than we have time and space to give, we

will at once examine the freezing curves of the iron-carbon alloys as

now developed. The works named on page 354 as references for Chapters

XXII and XXIII may be consulted for the various types and methods of

construction and for explanation of freezing curves by those who desire

to study them.

Referring to the freezing-point diagram on page 336, the upper or broad

V-shaped line, ABC, indicates the temperatures at which the alloys of

various percentages of iron and carbon begin to freeze, and the lower

one, AED, the temperatures at which the freezing of these alloys ends.

From the diagram it is readily seen that pure iron (100%), has a very

high freezing-point and solidifies at once. Iron which contains about 2%

of carbon begins to freeze at a much lower temperature and has a long

period of solidification, while iron with 4.3% of carbon has the lowest

freezing-point of the series with an extremely short solidification

period or range.

Since we have been unable to go sufficiently into the methods and

technique of freezing-curve construction to be able to understand their

general classification, we must accept the statement that the curve of

the iron-carbon series is really a double one. The part of it that lies

to the left of the dividing line UV of the diagram on page 336, is of

the type exhibited by liquids which freeze from “_liquid solutions_”

into what are known as “_solid solutions_,” which by aid of the

microscope are found to be homogeneous mixtures of crystals. On the

other hand, alloys which lie to the right of UV, are of the type which

form “_eutectics_.” This will be described later. This dividing line UV,

which occurs at about 1.7% of carbon, divides the iron-carbon alloys

into these two natural divisions. It was the basis for calling those

having 2% of carbon or less, “steels,” and those with over this amount,

“cast irons.”

Molten iron is so greedy for carbon, that, when it can get it, it

readily holds in solution from 7% to 10% of this element. But solid

(frozen) iron cannot retain anything like this amount. As we learned in

the last chapter, gamma iron is the only variety which can exist above

our lines of loss of conductivity, magnetism and recalescence, i. e.,

Ar_{3}, Ar_{3·2}, etc. It is, too, the only variety of solid iron which

is able to retain carbon in solution, and it can retain only about 1.7%

of it.

So when molten steel containing 1.5% of carbon, say, cools until it

reaches the temperature represented by the line, AB, which, at its

intersection with the 1.5% carbon line would be at about 2582° F.,

particles or crystals begin to freeze out and float in the molten alloy.

As the temperature falls, more crystals separate until, when the

temperature determined by intersection of the 1.5% carbon line with the

lower freezing curve, AE, is reached, the last of the now mushy alloy

solidifies.

Alloys of all other compositions below 1.7% of carbon do just this way

except that the temperatures at which freezing begins and ends are

different and distinctive for each composition.[10] Upon freezing, every

one of them retains in “solid solution” in the “gamma” iron whatever

carbon it had in the liquid or molten solution. But, as stated above, it

can not be over the 1.7% limit.

Footnote 10:

Temperatures of beginning and end of freezing may always be

ascertained by locating on the freezing-point diagram the points at

which the vertical line representing the desired composition

intersects and crosses the lines of the freezing-point curves—in these

cases, AB and AE.

Of the iron-carbon alloys of compositions lying to the right of the line

UV, we find the case to be different, for each one of them has more than

the 1.7% of carbon which is the maximum amount which “gamma” iron can

retain. Now the lowest temperature at which any iron-carbon alloy can

exist without freezing is slightly above 2066° F., and there is but one

composition—95.7% of iron and 4.3% of carbon—which can survive until

_this_ low temperature is reached. A content of 4.3% of carbon then, is

the greatest and also the least concentration which Nature will allow to

remain molten down to this minimum temperature. This 4.3% carbon

composition which is the lowest melting, i.e., the easiest melted alloy,

is called the “eutectic” alloy from Greek words which mean “well

melting.” This eutectic composition may be said to divide or rather

subdivide this group of alloys into two groups, those containing between

1.7% and 4.3% of carbon, and those which have 4.3% and over.

As stated before, freezing is not an instantaneous but a progressive

process. During the freezing period of any of these alloys which have

over 1.7% of carbon the _still liquid portion_ which remains after

freezing begins to become smaller and smaller in quantity as freezing

progresses just as it did in alloys of the “_solid solution_” group. And

as Nature allows a concentration of 4.3% of carbon as the highest

concentration at the minimum temperature the very last of the remaining

liquid of every alloy eventually gets to this eutectic composition just

before the alloy freezes. Those to the left of the eutectic or exact

4.3% composition do so by the gradual freezing out of iron containing

the maximum or 1.7% of carbon, i.e., iron is taken out faster than

carbon, hence there is gradual concentration of carbon in the remaining

liquid. This goes on until 4.3% is reached. The compositions to the

right of the line WX throw out the chemical compound, Fe_{3}C, which

contains 6.6% of carbon, whereby carbon is eliminated faster than iron

and the desired 4.3% carbon alloy is arrived at from the other

direction.

To illustrate, take, say, the composition represented by the vertical

line at 3% carbon and 97% iron. As the molten alloy cools it reaches the

temperature 2330° F., at which temperature the vertical line

representing the 3% carbon composition cuts the line AB. Here the alloy

begins to freeze by the separation of small crystals of solidifying iron

containing definite amounts of carbon.[11] But as the carbon thus taken

along by the freezing crystals of iron is always less than 1.7%, a

proportionally greater amount of iron than carbon is removed from the

unfrozen part of the alloy and the remaining liquid or unfrozen part,

therefore, is left with slightly more than the 3% of carbon with which

it started.

Footnote 11:

The percentages of carbon carried by the particles of iron freezing at

any particular temperature of the solidification range may be

determined from the diagram but the works named in the reference list

should be consulted for method and explanation.

This we must now consider another alloy with a lower freezing-point, the

reason being, of course, its higher carbon content. At the next lower

temperature, more iron containing carbon is frozen out and the remaining

liquid is again left a little higher in carbon than before. In this way

the continually diminishing amount of remaining liquid keeps

concentrating, forming thereby a continuous succession of alloys of

higher and higher carbon content as the temperature continuously drops.

Eventually, of course, the concentration of this remaining liquor

becomes 4.3% of carbon just before completion of the freezing at 2066°

[Illustration:

THE “EUTECTIC,” THE PART OF THE ALLOY WHICH SOLIDIFIES LAST

(_Magnification 700 Diameters_)

]

Now with alloys containing more than 4.3% of carbon, almost the opposite

occurs. Let us choose the one having 5% carbon and 95% of iron. This

molten alloy cools until at 2215° F., small crystals begin to freeze and

form in the molten mass. But, as the liquid already has more than the

favored 4.3% of carbon, it is not free iron which freezes out, but

instead, the chemical compound, Fe_{3}C, which contains 6.6% of carbon.

This, of course, takes out carbon proportionally faster than iron,

hence, at each very slightly lower temperature, the liquid which remains

unfrozen contains just a little less of carbon than did its predecessor.

So the constantly decreasing amount of remaining liquid progresses

through a succession of compositions each containing just a little less

of carbon than the previous one, and eventually, just before freezing we

get back to the mixture which contains 4.3% of carbon. Of course there

is left unfrozen by this time only a very small amount of the alloy and

it is this which has the composition stated.

The “Eutectic”

Now, having just the composition which she wants, whether arrived at

from alloys lower or higher than 4.3% in carbon, Nature lets this

composition freeze at once in thin alternating plates which lie side by

side about and among the earlier frozen crystals of the alloy. The

appearance of this typical eutectic formation under the microscope is

shown on page 341.

Had we chosen the 4.3% alloy itself, neither any of the solid solution

of carbon in iron nor the chemical compound, Fe_{3}C, would have frozen

out, but the whole mass would have remained liquid down to 2066° F.,

where the whole would have solidified at once in the plate-like eutectic

formation just described.

To sum up, iron-carbon alloys which contain less than 1.7% of carbon, in

other words, the steels, freeze as solid solutions of carbon in gamma

iron. This, of course, is the metallographic constituent which is called

austenite. It is not of a definite composition as it contains whatever

carbon is available up to 1.7%. Alloys containing between 1.7% and 4.3%

of carbon gradually freeze out this solid solution, austenite, more and

more being formed in the freezing alloy until, upon arriving at a

concentration of 4.3% of carbon for the remaining liquid, the latter,

too, freezes as a eutectic of alternating plates of more of this same

constituent, austenite, and the carbide of iron, Fe_{3}C, about and

among the crystals of the previously formed austenite. From alloys which

contain more than 4.3% of carbon, iron carbide, Fe_{3}C, gradually

freezes out as the temperature falls, until, at concentration of 4.3% of

carbon, the eutectic of remaining carbide and austenite forms about and

among the earlier frozen carbide crystals, always at the same

temperature, 2066° F., no matter what the original composition of the

alloy.

Upon reheating, the constituents melt in reverse order, the eutectic

liquifying first at 2066° F., the remainder of the alloy gradually

becoming liquid between this temperature and the temperature at which

the first freezing began during cooling.

Transformations and Decompositions

So far we have considered only the freezing of the iron-carbon alloys

from the molten to the solid condition. Now what happens to them at

temperatures below 2066° F.? Do they remain as we left them above, until

and after they are fully cold?

We must now combine the little sketch which we made on page 319, by

plotting the points, Ar_{1}, Ar_{2} and Ar_{3}, with the freezing-point

diagram which we have just now been considering. You remember that we

found all sorts of things happening to our 0% to 1.7% alloys—the

steels—at temperatures around 1290° F., 1395° F., and 1650° F.

Similarly, a great deal happens to these other alloys, as they cool from

their solidifying temperatures downward.

[Illustration:

THE FREEZING-POINT AND CRITICAL-POINT CURVES MAKE UP THE EQUILIBRIUM

DIAGRAM

]

But for the moment considering only the steels, i.e., the third of the

diagram to the left of the 1.7% carbon line, we remember that upon

completion of the solidification of any alloy, we had only a frozen

solution of all the carbon in iron. Now in the bottom part of this left

third of our diagram on page 344, the line GOSE does not look so very

much different than the freezing line, ABC, does it? It resembles it not

only in appearance but also in actual experience. But in this case it

represents not a freezing from liquid to solid but a decomposition, or

better perhaps, a transformation. The solid solutions or alloys which

contain less than .9% of carbon give up their excess of pure iron upon

getting down to temperatures lying along the line GOS, by gradual

decomposition of the austenite. In alloys lying to the right of this .9%

carbon vertical line the austenite rids itself of excess carbon by

throwing out of solid solution and freeing the chemical compound,

Fe_{3}C, as the line SE is reached and passed. That is, analogously to

what occurred during freezing, certain concentrations occur in the

_solid_, lower carbon alloys by gradual rejection of pure iron crystals

until the remainder of the mass has exactly .9% of carbon, or

_deconcentrate_ in the higher ones by rejection of Fe_{3}C until they

reduce the carbon to this .9% figure. In all cases, by the time the

temperature 1290° F., has been reached this has been accomplished and

the remaining undecomposed austenite, now with just .9% of carbon, in

some way splits into the alternating plate-like constituent which is

shown in the cut on page 341.

[Illustration:

THE EQUILIBRIUM DIAGRAM AND INTERPRETATION AS NOW TENTATIVELY ACCEPTED

]

This plate-like constituent we can hardly call eutectic or

“well-melting” alloy for it, as well as the rest of the alloy, has been

solid for a long time. But being so similar in derivation and appearance

to the eutectic which forms during freezing of a molten alloy, it is

proposed that it be called the next best thing, the “eutectoid.” It is

often called the eutectic, however.

By this time you doubtless have seen that the free iron which was thrown

out of the steel having less than .9% carbon is the ferrite which we

found in the soft steels, and that the chemical compound, Fe_{3}C, of

the higher carbon steels is the extremely hard constituent, cementite.

The eutectoid or plate-like structure is, of course, pearlite, which in

the last chapter we found to consist of just these alternating plates of

ferrite and cementite.

The Cast Irons

All of the alloys lying to the right of the line UV contain more than

1.7% of carbon, and, according to our classification, therefore, are

“cast irons.”

We have seen how they freeze either as eutectic alone, as crystals of

austenite with eutectic or as crystals of cementite (Fe_{3}C) and

eutectic, depending upon the original composition of the molten alloy.

At and just below the temperatures represented by the line ED, this

undoubtedly represents the situation.

What happens to the alloys from this temperature down to normal depends

upon conditions. Just what occurs and the mechanism of it is not

definitely known except in the practical way. Certain it is, the

“precipitation” of free carbon is necessary for cast irons which are to

be serviceable for usual purposes. This may occur with consequent

softening during the first cooling or they may be cast as “hard iron”

and softened afterward.

In Chapter XI we said that silicon was a “softener” as its presence

brought about precipitation of the carbon as graphite throughout the

cast iron, thereby softening it both by reason of the presence of the

soft flakes of graphite and because it leaves so little of the carbon in

the “combined” or hardening condition. So silicon is a ready means of

bringing about decomposition of the higher temperature structures as the

alloys cool.

The speed of the cooling also exerts a very powerful influence in

determining the amount of graphite which will separate. Other conditions

being equal, the slower the cooling, the greater the decomposition with

resulting graphite. Swift cooling, even such as results from the dumping

of castings from the molds while at nearly white or high red heat

results in insufficient graphite and otherwise harder metal. Cooling of

very hot castings on a cold floor or in a current of cool air has

considerable hardening effect even when the composition of the alloy

would otherwise give very soft and machinable metal. In an extreme and

very interesting case a few very hard cast iron flanges were each day

found among the many thousands of habitually soft castings regularly

produced. Each day two or three expensive “taps” were ruined by

attempting the impossible—the machining of these pieces of hardened

iron, which, on the outside, looked just like all the rest. It was soon

discovered that two or three mold dumpers each noon and evening were

warming water for “wash-up” by dropping into the pails a flange or two

which were still white-hot after dumping from the molds. The men were

innocent of any intention of harm but their warm water cost several

hundred dollars before their method of producing it was discovered.

Silicon and rate of cooling are the two most powerful influences but

presence of certain elements other than silicon also influences to some

extent the degree of hardness. However, while silicon has a strong

softening effect, manganese and sulphur have an opposite or hardening

tendency. On this account the amounts of these latter elements which can

be used or allowed must be strictly limited.

From the above it is seen that all sorts of cast iron can be produced

ranging from the extremely hard, high cementite, white irons with low

silicon content down to the very soft gray irons which result mainly

because of higher silicon content and slower cooling.

The white irons are more or less unstable as is shown by the

decomposition through which the hard, white iron castings become

“malleable” by annealing as was told in Chapter XII which discussed

Malleable Cast Iron.

[Illustration:

No. 31. GRAY CAST IRON WITH FERRITE, PEARLITE AND GRAPHITE FLAKES

(_Magnification 70 Diameters_)

]

The gray cast irons are much more stable. They consist of what, in an

early chapter, we referred to as “steels with an impurity, the graphite

flakes.” They consist, then, of free, soft iron or ferrite, certain

amounts of the characteristic steel constituent, pearlite, and the soft

graphite flakes.

They arrive at this composition, through breaking down of the austenite

and cementite structures during the cooling,—just how not having been

satisfactorily determined. Consistent study is being put upon this

subject and several unique and long-studied possible explanations of

this section of the full equilibrium diagram have been proposed and

debated, all based upon the data so far available. While much

information on this subject has been gained the matter is still so much

in dispute that it is best for us to venture nothing definite in regard

to just how the changes occur. The reference books for this chapter (see

page 354) give quite completely the data, theories and explanations so

far available.

Compared with the steels, the cast irons are vastly complicated. In them

we have elements which occur in practically negligible amounts in the

steels. Commercial cast irons, for instance, have silicon ranging

anywhere from ½% to 3%, phosphorus .10% to 2%, graphite 0% to 3.50%, and

carbon in the combined form (pearlite or cementite) from 3.50% to .10%.

If these represent the majority of cast irons what about our pig irons

which have 2, 5, 8, 10 or even 15% of silicon, others with 1 or 2 and

occasionally very much more of manganese, and still others which vary

widely in phosphorus content?—for from the metallographic and physical

chemistry standpoint pig irons are cast irons.

As we can never get perfectly pure iron-carbon alloys to experiment

with, their content of other elements, silicon, nickel, phosphorus,

etc., vitiate more or less the results obtained, but even could such

pure alloys be secured we are not greatly helped since our serviceable

alloys are never such. Each added element brings about greater

complication and one does not wonder that in the short twenty years

which have elapsed since study was seriously undertaken, metallurgical

science has not entirely solved the big problem.

REFERENCES

GENERAL & VARIOUS

“The A B C of Iron and Steel,” Penton Publishing Co., Cleveland.

“The Steel Foundry,” J. H. Hall, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.

“The Metallurgy of Steel,” H. M. Howe, The Scientific Publishing Co.,

New York.

“The Manufacture and Properties of Iron and Steel,” H. H. Campbell,

Hill Publishing Co., New York.

“The Metallurgy of Iron and Steel,” B. Stoughton, McGraw-Hill Book

Co., New York.

“The Metallurgy of Steel,” Harbord and Hall, Charles Griffin & Co.,

Ltd., London.

“Liquid Steel,” E. G. Carnegie, Longmans, Green & Co., London.

“Krupp’s Steel Works,” F. C. G. Muller, Wm. Heinemann, London.

“By Bread Alone” (a novel), I. K. Friedman, McClure, Phillips & Co.,

New York.

CHAPTER I

“The History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages,” James Swank, Am.

Iron and Steel Assoc., Philadelphia, Pa.

“The Materials of Engineering—Iron and Steel,” Robert Thurston, John

Wiley & Son, New York.

CHAPTER II

“The Honorable Peter White,” R. D. Williams, Penton Publishing Co.,

Cleveland, O.

“The Iron Ore Resources of the World,” International Geological

Society, Stockholm, 1910.

“The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama,” Ethel Armes, Chamber of

Commerce, Birmingham, Ala.

CHAPTER III

“Modern Coking Practice,” T. H. Byrom, C. Lockwood & Son, London.

“Coal and Coke,” Frederick H. Wagner (1916), McGraw-Hill Book Co., New

York.

“Washing and Coking Tests of Coal,” A. W. Belden, G. R. Delamater, J.

W. Groves, Bulletin 368, U. S. Geological Survey, 1909.

“Washing and Coking Tests of Coal and Cupola Tests of Coke,” R.

Moldenke, A. W. Belden, and G. R. Delamater, U. S. Fuel Testing

Plant, St. Louis, Mo., U. S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 336, 1908.

“Manufacture of Coke and Other Prepared Fuels and the Saving of

By-Products,” John Fulton, 1905, International Text Book Co.,

Pittsburg, Pa.

CHAPTER IV

“The Blast Furnace and Manufacture of Pig Iron,” Robert Forsythe, D.

Williams & Co., New York.

“A Study of the Blast Furnace,” Harbison-Walker Refractories Co.,

Pittsburg, Pa.

“The Principles of Manufacture of Iron and Steel,” Sir I. L. Bell,

George Routledge & Son, London.

CHAPTER VI

“The Business Message of the Wrought Iron Bar,” Interstate Iron and

Steel Co., Chicago.

“The Control of Quality in Every Process,” A. M. Byers Co., Pittsburg,

Pa.

CHAPTER VII

“The Cementation of Iron and Steel,” Gioletti, McGraw-Hill Book Co.,

New York.

“The Fine Steel Industry,” J. A. Mathews, The Halcomb Steel Co.,

Syracuse, New York.

CHAPTER VIII

“Sir Henry Bessemer—An Autobiography,” Offices of Engineering, London.

“The Romance of Iron and Steel—The Story of a Thousand Millionaires,”

H. N. Casson, Munsey’s Magazine, April, 1906, and on; In book form,

A. S. Barnes & Co., New York.

CHAPTER IX

“The Manufacture of Open-Hearth Steel Castings,” W. M. Carr, Penton

Publishing Co., Cleveland.

“The Basic Open-Hearth Steel Process,” C. Dichmann, Constable & Co.,

Ltd., London.

“A Study of the Open-Hearth,” Harbison-Walker Refractories Co.,

Pittsburg, Pa.

CHAPTERS X & XI

“Cast Iron in the Light of Recent Research,” W. H. Hatfield, Charles

Griffin & Co., Ltd., London.

“Cast Iron,” W. J. Keep, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

“The Metallurgy of Cast Iron,” T. D. West, Cleveland Printing &

Publishing Co., Cleveland, O.

“American Foundry Practice,” T. D. West, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

CHAPTER XII

“The Production of Malleable Castings,” Richard Moldenke, The Penton

Publishing Co., Cleveland.

“Malleable Cast Iron,” S. J. Parsons, A. Constable & Co., Ltd.,

London.

CHAPTER XIII

“Electric Furnaces in the Iron and Steel Industry,” Rodenhauser &

Schoenawa (Translated by Vom Baur), John Wiley & Sons, New York.

“The Electric Furnace,” A. Stansfield, The McGraw-Hill Book Co., New

York.

“Electric Furnaces for Making Iron and Steel,” Lyon and Keeney, U. S.

Bureau of Mines, Bulletin No. 67 (1914).

CHAPTERS XIV & XV

“The Manufacture and Uses of Alloy Steels,” H. D. Hibbard, U. S.

Bureau of Mines, Bulletin No. 100 (1915).

“High Speed Steel,” O. M. Becker, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.

“Nickel Steel—Its Practical Development in the United States,” H. F.

J. Porter, Cassier’s Magazine, 1902, Page 480.

“Chrome-Vanadium Steel,” W. E. Gibbs, Cassier’s Magazine, June, 1910,

Page 174.

“Vanadium Steels,” J. Kent Smith, American Vanadium Co., Pittsburgh,

Pa.

“Alloy Steels in Motor Car Construction,” J. A. Mathews, Journal

Franklin Institute, May, 1909, Page 379.

“On the Art of Cutting Metals,” F. W. Taylor, Trans. Am. Soc. Mech.

Eng. 1906–28 No. 3.

“High Speed and Carbon Tool Steels,” Machinery Reference Series No.

117, Industrial Press, New York.

“Alloy Steels,” Machinery Reference Series No. 118.

CHAPTER XVI

“Drop Forging, Die Sinking and Machine Forging of Tools of Steel,” J.

V. Woodworth, N. W. Henley Publishing Co., New York.

“Metal Working,” Hasluck, David McKay, 1907.

“Drop Forging,” Machinery’s Reference Series No. 45.

“Press Working of Metals,” Oberlin Smith, John Wiley & Sons (1913).

CHAPTER XVII

“The Rolling Mill Industry,” F. Kindl, Penton Publishing Co.,

Cleveland, Ohio.

CHAPTERS XVIII & XIX

“Wire Manufacture and Uses,” J. B. Smith, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

CHAPTERS XX & XXI

“Modern Welded Pipe,” National Tube Co., Pittsburg, Pa.

“The Control of Quality in Every Process,” A. M. Byers Co., Pittsburg,

Pa.

“Seamless Tubing, Bulletin No. 17–A”, National Tube Co., Pittsburg,

Pa.

“The Manufacture of Iron and Steel Tubes,” E. C. R. Marks, Van Ostrand

& Co., New York.

CHAPTERS XXII & XXIII

“The Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron,” H. M. Howe, McGraw-Hill

Book Co., New York.

“The Metallography and Heat Treatment of Iron and Steel,” Albert

Sauveur, Sauveur and Boylston, Cambridge, Mass.

“Metallic Alloys: Their Structure and Constitution,” G. H. Gulliver,

Charles Griffin & Co., Ltd., London.

INDEX

Acid linings for furnaces, 139, 156

Allotropic modifications of iron, 322

Alloy steels, 232

Ammonia from coke ovens, 49

Analysis, chemical, 165

Annealing malleable cast iron, 203

cast steel, 220

tool steels, 109, 233, 333

tubes, 307

wire, 285

Bar, Merchant, 154

muck, 99

Basic linings for furnaces, 139, 156, 230

Beehive charcoal, 38

coke, 44

Benzol, 49

Bessemer, Sir Henry, 123

steel, =123=, 226

Black heart malleable iron, 209

Blast, 1, 11, 52, 58, 172

Blast furnace, 9, 10, 52

Blister steel, 117

Blowing of Bessemer steel, 128, 225

Boyden, Seth, 196

Busheled iron, 105

Butt-welded pipe, 293

By-products, 42, 47

Carbon, effect of, on iron, 8, 74, 83, 86, 109, 116, 180, 198, 233,

319, 337

effect of, on iron ore, 4, 57

Cast iron. See Iron, cast

Castings, 189

of cast iron, 178

Castings of malleable iron, 197

of pig iron (direct castings), 80

“rubber,” 192

of “semi-steel,” 188

of steel, 214

Cementation steel process, 106, =112=

Charcoal, 7, 37, 95

Chemical changes during refining, 7, 97, 119, 128, 149, 155, 160, 201,

230

Chemistry of gas producers, 158

Chromium in steel, 238, 243

Cinder in wrought iron, 96, 97, 101, 300

Classification according to chemical analysis, 83

of iron alloys, 69, 180

metallographic, 70

by physical test, 83, 188

of steels, 107, 155

volumetric, 88

Coal, 41, 49

Cold finishing of steel, 270, 306

Coke, 11, 41

Coke ovens, 44, 46

Conductivity of steels, 315

Converters, 126, 226

Cooling curves of steels, 316

Cort, Henry, 11, 95, 259

Critical temperature or range in steels, 315, 319

Crucibles, 118

Crucible steel process, 106, =118=, 223

Cupola melting process, 161, =171=, 198

Dilatation of steel, 315

Dolomite, 50

Drawing bench, 287, 306

Drawing, effect of cold-drawing, 248

of tubes, 305

of wire, 284

Duplex steel process, 155

Electric furnaces, 227

Electric steel, 227

Equilibrium diagram of iron-carbon alloys, 335, 345

Eutectic, 342

Eutectoid, 346

Fiber of wrought iron, 92, 93, 101

Fluor spar, 51

Flux, 50, 173

Forging, 248

Freezing-point curves of iron-carbon alloys, 337

Fuels, 6, 11, 15, 37, 94, 96, 119, 130, 157, 170

Furnaces, air, 198

Bessemer converters, =123=, 226

Catalan, 7

Cementation, 115

Cupola, 171

early types of, 6, 93

electric, 227

open-hearth, 142

puddling, 95

Siemens-Martin, 142

Talbot, 153

Gas, coke oven, 41, 47

natural, 157

producer, 157

Hadfield, Sir Robert, 235

Hammers for forging, 249

Hardening, air or self, 241

Hardening of steels, 109, 233, 240, 316, 333

Holley, Alexander L., 127

Huntsman crucible melting process, 10, 118

Ingots, steel, 245

Irons, “black heart” malleable cast, 209

Busheled, 105

cast (See also Semi-steel), 7, 79, =160=, =178=, 346

classification of, 69, 89

early history of, 1, 4, 91

ingot, 75

malleable, 4, 123

malleable cast, 81, =195=

pig, 63

puddled, 75, =91=

strengths of the iron alloys, 83, 188

Swedish, 93

white, 81, 184, 198

“white heart” malleable cast, 21

wrought, 75, 77, =91=

wrought, early processes for, 4, 93

Kelly, William, 124

Lap-welded pipe, 296

Lime, use of, 139, 149, 230

Limestone as flux, 50, 173

Linings, acid and basic, 139, 156, 230

of Bessemer converters, 139

of electric furnaces, 230

of open-hearth furnaces, 148

of puddling furnaces, 97

Magnetism, loss of, in steels, 314

Manganese, 135, 151

Hadfield’s manganese steel, 235

Mannesmann process for billet piercing, 302

Melting points of iron-carbon alloys, 4, 6, =83=, 94, 142

Metallography, =70=, 180, 324

Metalloids, 86, =89=, 128

Mills. See Rolling mills

Mixer, 131, 153

Molds and Molding, 13, =189=, 218

Muck bar, 99

Mushet, Robert F., 135, 240

Nasmyth, James, 251

Nickel in steel, 237

Open-hearth steel process, =142=, 223

Ore, iron, 3, 17, 53, 144

Mesaba, 26

unloaders, 31

use of (iron oxide), in refining processes, 97, 149, 230

Phosphorus in iron and steel, 97, 139, 144, 152, 230

Pickling of steel, 285, 305

Piercing of steel billets for tubes, 302

Pig bed, 61

Pig iron, 63

castings (“direct castings”), 80

Pipes and tubes, early, 292

Pipes, butt-welded, 293

lap-welded, 296

in steel ingots, 245

Plates, making of steel, 264

Press, forging by hydraulic, 256

Puddling of iron, 97

Rails, rolling of, 138, 273

Reaumur, 115, 195

Recalescence, 311, 316

Recarburization, 135, 151

References, 350

Regenerative system of heating, 146

Risers on steel castings, 219

Rods, rolling of, 277

Rolling mills, 259, 277, 294, 304

Rolling of muck bar, 99

of rails, 138, 273

of rods, 277

Rolling of skelp for pipe, 293

of steel plates, 264, 268

Rolling vs. forging of steel, 258

Segregation in steel ingots, 246

“Semi-steel,” 78, 185

Sheets, rolling of, 273

Siemens-Martin steel process. See Open-hearth

Silicon in iron-carbon alloys, =83=, 120, 133, 168, =182=, 346

Skelp for pipe, 293

Slag and cinder, 56, 58, 96, 97, 151

Spiegeleisen addition in Bessemer process, 135

Squeezer for puddled iron, 99

Steam hammer for forging, 251

Steels, acid, 139, 156

alloy, 107, 232

annealing of, 109, 220, 233, 285, 307, 333

basic, 139, 156, 230

Bessemer process, 123, 154, 226

blister, 117

carbon, 107

castings. See Castings of steel

cementation, 106, =112=

chrome, 238

classification of, 107, 155

crucible, 106, =118=, 223

duplex, 155

electric, 227

hardening of, 109, 233, 240, 241, 316, 333

high-speed, 107, 240

manganese, 235

nickel, 237

open-hearth, 107, =142=, 223

place in the iron family, 78

“semi-steel,” 79, 185

shear, 118

structures, decompositions and transformations of, 310, 337, 343

tool, 107, 240

tungsten, 236, 243

Wootz, Damascus, Toledo, etc., 8, 121

Strengths of iron-carbon alloys, 83, 188

of steel plate, 270

of wire, 290

Structures of the irons and steels, 310, 323, 337, 343