Chapter 6 Cheap Steel
“Are you kidding me? You can get steel now?!”
Omet’s mouth twitched as he looked at the hot molten steel in the crucible in front of him.
At present, ordinary iron-making furnaces are more than one person tall and about one meter in diameter. In the past, they could only produce lumps of iron. More than ten years ago, new iron-making furnaces began to use waterwheel-powered bellows and coke as fuel. Finally, molten iron can be obtained, and the quality and output of ironmaking are greatly improved.
Ogilvy considers itself to be at the forefront of the times and has extensive research on various smelting techniques. However, when it saw the steel-frying process, it was still dumbfounded. Could it be that steel can be cooked like batter?
"Who figured it out?" he asked excitedly, "Can it really be turned directly into steel?!"
Frederick handed him a large roll of parchment and said at the same time: "This is The wandering scholar told me that the difference between wrought iron, steel and pig iron is caused by the different carbon content. The carbon content in the molten iron can be judged by sparks. "
Last year his father. After the expedition, my mother prayed in the church all day, and her unsupervised children ran around, so they came to the blacksmith shop to cause trouble.
Anyway, when someone asks, they say it was said by a wandering scholar they met before. Believe it or not.
Frederick winked at Alfred, the blacksmith who was stirring the molten iron. The latter picked out a little molten iron and dropped it on the stone slab next to him. The molten iron exploded into several fireballs the size of ping pong balls.
These fireballs are composed of one-two, two-four, and four-eight sparks, and they bounce a few times when they fall on the ground.
Omet found the content of "Carbon Estimation of Steel Flowers" from the parchment, and immediately said: "Quick, add some rust in!"
Frederick nodded, Avery De immediately scooped up a little rust from the wooden barrel on the side with a spoon and poured it in. At the same time, he asked his son who was helping him to open the air valve on the air pipe connected to the bellows to the maximum.
The lower the carbon content of molten steel, the higher the melting point. To obtain carbon-free wrought iron, the furnace temperature must be increased, otherwise it will solidify.
This is one of the reasons why the fried steel method has not appeared yet. The melting point of pig iron is about 300°C lower than that of wrought iron. Blacksmiths have not mastered the principle, so they will not waste fuel to increase the furnace temperature.
It was different here in Frederick. Simply preheating the air in the bellows before entering the ironmaking furnace could increase the furnace temperature by about 200°C.
After stirring for a while, Alfred's son scooped away the scum, and Alfred made a little molten steel drip on the stone slab.
“It’s really gotten smaller!” Ogilvy exclaimed, “It’s a pity that the crucible is a little too small.”
The diameter of the current crucible’s mouth is only more than 20 centimeters, and the depth is about the same. .
Frederick said with the same helplessness: "There is no way. There is a problem with the material of the crucible. It is too big and heavy and it will not be lifted up. It will break. I can only stop the furnace and let the steel harden before moving it away."
"There was an accident before. Fortunately, it fell into the furnace, otherwise someone would have died."
Omet thought for a while and said: "I have a way. When the time comes, I will use heat-resistant fire steel Make a crucible shell as big as a water tank, and apply a layer of crucible material on the inside. You can make a lot at one time."
"We can even purchase pig iron and process it into steel ingots to sell. He will hate us to death."
After hearing this, Frederick pointed to the bottom of the parchment and said, "You can look here."
Omet looked over immediately. After going to the converter steelmaking method, his expression became particularly solemn.
"It's a pity." He said after reading it, "The wind pressure of the bellows does not meet the requirements."
Frederick nodded.
The theory of home-made ironmaking and home-made converter steelmaking is not a problem for him. In his last life, when he visited Station A, an UP owner named "One meter ninety-five meters to convince people with virtue" shared this A doomsday survival folder, which contains a variety of indigenous crafts, including but not limited to iron and steelmaking, bearing machine tools, canned salted fish, hatching eggs to cure pig diseases, etc.
The theory is one thing, the actual operation is another. The problem with the crucible material almost made him hiccup again.
The same goes for the converter. Although the converter can be built using local methods, the blower is currently missing. If the air pressure is not enough, the molten iron will block the air outlet or even flow backwards. Ogilvy watched the molten iron being poured into the mold, and studied the content on the parchment while waiting for the iron ingot to cool. Only then did he believe that the "batter stirring method" could quickly produce wrought iron and steel.
He held a piece of wrought iron ingot and thought about it and said: "Wrought iron is relatively soft, so it is easy to process, but when used to make bearings, the hardness is much worse than steel. In the end, does it need to be simmered with paste? ”
“Since the different properties of iron and steel are caused by the difference in the amount of carbon, wrought iron turns into steel because the carbon in the carbon paste enters the iron at high temperature. ”< br>
Frederick nodded. The "paste and stewing" he was talking about was the carburizing process. "Carbon paste" is mixed with charcoal powder, grease and other things. It is applied to the surface of the workpiece and then Wrap it with something like high-temperature clay and heat it in a fire, a bit like making a beggar's chicken.
“Generally speaking, there is quenching and tempering next.” Frederick added.
All Might thought about it and said: "The magic strengthening step can be placed before quenching. The material is no problem, and we can discuss the specifications next."
Frederick thought for a moment and said: "I It is recommended that the waterwheels and lathes in the workshop use bearings first, so that they can practice their skills, and secondly, they can sharpen their axes and chop wood."
Omet said: "It's feasible."
The two left the blacksmith shop and walked towards the carpenter shop not far away.
Currently, the tools are limited, so we can only run on both sides.
It was already afternoon tea time, and the weather was good. In the wheat fields not far away, farmers used draft horses to pull wheel plows to turn straw and root stubble into the ground, and then poured diluted compost on top.
The microorganisms in this world are very powerful. The temperature in summer is high now. The microorganisms in the compost can quickly degrade part of the straw and root stubble. Don’t delay planting beans later. After the beans are harvested in late autumn, this land will be used next year. It's time to plant pasture.
Frederick looked at the farmland and said: "I got some inspiration recently and am designing a machine powered by magic crystal that can plow the fields quickly."
Omet smiled bitterly. He said: "Actually, I have also considered using golem puppets to farm fields, but the magic crystal is too expensive and the cost is too high."
Frederick smiled and said: "What do you think about golem puppets?" The understanding is too one-sided, but in fact it has a wide range of uses.”
"You can teach the control core arithmetic. Then make a golem puppet specially used to calculate numbers, and don't stick to the human form."
"For example, use buttons to input numbers, and use rotating gears to display numbers. A driving ring or something like that.”
“I think many businesses will like a machine that only requires inputting numbers.”
“Also, actually. There are many processes in making bearings that are repetitive work, especially on machine tools. ”
“If you can make a golem that specializes in these processes, the production efficiency will be much higher.”
< br>
"I'm just going to talk about one thing, the axle. Is it possible to have such a golem puppet that can turn the rough embryo into a suitable size?"
Ogilvy was stunned for a moment after hearing this. Yes, at first I just thought this kid was being whimsical, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed to make sense.
"Let's make the bearings first." All Might said, "You can only research new golem puppets when you have money."
Frederick nodded, this matter is not urgent. , to develop automatic machine tools, at least the power problem must be solved, and this requires the emergence of steam engines.
He didn't know at this time that next, because of his own negligence, he almost failed to get the bearing out.
(End of this chapter)