Pig iron - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pig iron is iron with a high carbon content. Pig iron is made by smelting iron ore into ingot form, in a blast furnace. It’s called pig iron because when being cast, each ingot being cast looks like a Piglet suckling milk from a sow.
History
[change | change source]Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese knew about pig iron, and were producing it as early as 1100 BC.
Uses
[change | change source]Pig iron is refined into Wrought iron by melting it and blowing hot air through it. Pig iron can also be turned into gray iron.
Modern Uses
[change | change source]Originally, pig iron was poured out the bottom of the furnace and shipped to a steel mill for processing. Now, we turn the metal into pellets before shipping it.