Production
Cast iron is made by re-melting pig iron, often along with substantial quantities of scrap iron, scrap steel, lime stone, carbon (coke) and taking various steps to remove undesirable contaminants. Phosphorus and sulfur may be burnt out of the molten iron, but this also burns out the carbon, which must be replaced. Depending on the application, carbon and silicon content are adjusted to the desired levels, which may be anywhere from 2 to 3.5% and 1 to 3% respectively. Other elements are then added to the melt before the final form is produced by casting.
Iron is sometimes melted in a special type of blast furnace known as a cupola, but more often melted in electric induction furnaces or electric arc furnaces. After melting is complete, the molten iron is poured into a holding furnace or ladle.
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“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
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—John Dewey (1859–1952)