metalresearcher
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How hot does charcoal actually burn ?
When burning wood in my woodstove I did some tests with an infrared pyrometer. When all wood was decomposed and there was a layer of hot embers in the
well ventilated stove, I measure 800-900 C. But when I blow air on it via a makeshift tuyere (a metal pipe connected to my mouth which blows),
temperatures reach 1100 C.
The largest online chemistry textbook also mentions such values.
But how did ancient users make steel using charcoal without electric fans and tuyeres ?
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bnull
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Who needs electric fans when you have water and animals and slaves (yep) to power the bellows?
From somewhere in the same textbook:
| Quote: | | In the Old World, humans learned to smelt metals in prehistoric times, more than 8000 years ago. |
and
| Quote: | | Most early processes in Europe and Africa involved smelting iron ore in a bloomery, where the temperature is kept low enough so that the iron does not
melt. This produces a spongy mass of iron called a bloom, which then must be consolidated with a hammer to produce wrought iron. Some of the earliest
evidence to date for the bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh, Jordan, radiocarbon-dated to c. 930 BC. |
Here is an article: E. A. Ginzel, Steel in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Conversion of wrought iron to steel was manageable.
Edit: I forgot this one:
| Quote: | | Archeologists have discovered tuyeres dating from the Iron Age; one example dates from between 770 BCE and 515 BCE. |
[Edited on 23-11-2024 by bnull]
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
B. N. Ull
P.S.: Did you know that we have a Library?
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Alkoholvergiftung
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the ren stove where somtimes over 3meter high it was the chimney effect that sucks air in.
[Edited on 23-11-2024 by Alkoholvergiftung]
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4-Stroke
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Although steel was possible to make in small quantities, it wasn't really mass produced up until about the start of the Industrial
Revolution. As bnull said, at first, iron wasn't even molten, it was just a red hot bloom that was forged to turn it into something useful, but the
bloom was made out of wrought iron, so it was (relatively) soft. Then, they started making cats iron. It has a low melting point (~1200°C), so it was
possible to make out of charcoal. Steel is technically possible to make using charcoal, but very hard, so mostly coke was used for making steel
(although charcoal still has used, especially at the beginning). The maximum temperature achievable with charcoal is a little over ~1500°C.
[Edited on 23-11-2024 by 4-Stroke]
Ukrainium
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