Latest Manufacturing Facilities of Cast Iron
With several new technologies and discoveries, the cast iron industry has advanced by leaps and bounds than what it used to be in the past. Modern manufacturing facilities of cast iron now offer several products, like foundry grade pig iron, many different grades of iron ore, etc. for several industrial applications. In this post, we’ll have a look at the functioning of modern cast iron facilities and the different products they offer.
Iron is one of the most abundantly found natural compounds all over the earth. Separating workable iron from Earth is one of the most important discoveries for the mankind. Every successive civilization significantly contributed to this separation process, and the process has come a very long way from what it used to be initial days.
Modern cast iron facilities use a wide range of technologies, tools, and machines for this separation and now offer many different types of products for several industrial applications.
What is Cast Iron?
Cast iron can be defined as a compound which contains iron as its main composition. The iron is usually mixed with silicon and carbon particles to provide cast iron with additional properties. Pig iron is used for making cast iron. Gray cast iron which contains graphite flakes and white cast iron with carbide impurities are two different types of cast iron.
The reason for its Popularity
During the casting process, iron is heated to an extent up to which it is in a liquid-like form and is then poured in casts to get the required form and shape. It is very commonly used by several industries as it has a number of qualities, like low melting point, fluidity, deformation resistance and rust resistance, which make it perfect for creating solid items.
Its Wide Range of Applications
Round pipes, automobile parts, machines and their parts, cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, and gear boxes are some of the most popular type of products created from cast iron. Moreover, modern facilities offer innovative products, like foundry grade pig iron which can be readily used for creating many different types of steel and iron products.
Manufacturing Cast Iron
For producing cast iron, a blasting furnace known as cupola is used. A number of modern facilities also use induction furnaces for producing cast iron. Sand casting is the most popular technique for producing cast iron. In this technique, sand is very firmly put in a cast made from metal or wood. A binding agent is added to the sand to ensure that all the particles remain in place. The cast is removed once the mixture hardens.
Another common technique for producing cast iron is green sand casting. For this, the sand is first baked before it is added to the cast metal. For hardening, sodium silicate is usually used in this process. When round shaped products are to be created, centrifugal casting is the most commonly used method.
Right from sewage connections, aircraft, to our house, cast iron plays a very important role. The comfortable lives which we experience now wouldn’t have been the same without the discovery of this precious alloy.