yobbo II - 26-11-2016 at 17:37
Iron can be converted into magnetite using steam in a furnace at around 1000C. The iron (say a cup shaped piece) is placed into the furnace and steam
is streamed in for about 10 hours and the iron is converted to magnetite. See patent.
What is the thermal conductivity of magnetite? I cannot find an answer on line.
It has poor thermal shock resistance I believe.
Can oxides of other metals be made in a similar manner.
If one were to heat zirconium in a furnace and stream in steam would you end up with a zirconia container. I have me doubts.
See us 2,727,842 for converting steel into magnetite.
Yob
Fulmen - 26-11-2016 at 20:57
Good find. But this will only apply to steels, other metal oxides will behave differently both chemically and physical.
yobbo II - 4-12-2016 at 14:27
Some cooked iron pieces.
Some of the pieces are broken as I broke them to see of the iron was all gone.
All the iron is gone on the spiral shaped piece (a 2.5 mm welding rod) and the iron that has a slow twist to it.
The run was about 14 hours, less would have probably done the job.
Another piece shows a piece of the original iron sticking out as the oven broke down after about 8 hours. It would have needed about 12 hours to cook
all the way through.
Picture a shows a selection of iron pieces before going into oven.
There are some defects on the pieces in picutre b. This is caused by the pieces being in contact with quarts tubes that I used to furniture in the
oven. The spiral I hung up using nichrome wire which can be seen stuck to the ends.
Even a piece of rustproof stainless steel was converted to magnetite. It was rustproof as it was in the open for a few years. It come from the inside
of the rubber of a car wiper. I should have tried some ss welding rods of known composition to see if they would hold up. Pure nickel holds up well
but is brittle when run is finished. Grade 2 titaniun is converted to a black crisp (very thin piece anyways).
Furniture for placeing the pieces is not easy to obtain. Fused quarts blends into the piece.
What could you use?
Nichrome wire used to hang the pieces up seems to work OK.
The magnetite is not very conductive.
Yob
