The Topic: Iron & Steel Easier - Iron is a chemical element. It is a strong, hard, heavy gray metal. It is found in meteorites. Iron is also found combined in many mineral compounds in the earth's crust. Iron rusts easily and can be magnetized and is strongly attracted to magnets. It is used to make many things such as gates and railings. Iron is also used to make steel, an even harder and tougher metal compound. Steel is formed by treating molten (melted) iron with intense heat and mixing it (alloying) with carbon. Steel is used to make machines, cars, tools, knives, and many other things.   Harder - The exact date at which people first discovered how to smelt iron ore and produce usable metal is not known. Archaeologists have found early iron tools that were used in Egypt from about 3000 bc. Iron objects of ornamentation were used even earlier. By about 1000 BC, the ancient Greeks are known to have used heat treatment techniques to harden their iron weaponry. These historical iron alloys, all iron alloys produced until about the fourteenth century ad, were forms of wrought iron.   Wrought iron was made by first heating a mass of iron ore and charcoal in a forge or furnace using a forced draft of air. This generated enough heat to reduce the iron ore to a hot, glowing, spongy mass of metallic iron filled with slag materials. The slag contained metallic impurities and charcoal ash. This iron sponge was then removed from the furnace and while still glowing hot, it was pounded with heavy sledges to separate the slag impurities and to weld and form the purer mass of iron. The iron produced in this way almost always contained slag particles and other impurities, but occasionally this technique of small batch iron making yielded a true steel product rather than wrought iron. These early iron makers also learned to make steel by reheating wrought iron and charcoal in clay boxes for several days, until the iron absorbed enough carbon to become a true hardened steel.   By the end of the fourteenth century, iron furnaces used in smelting were becoming larger with increased draft from large bellows being used to force air through the “charge” (mixture of raw materials). These larger furnaces first freed the molten iron in its upper levels. This metallic iron then combined with higher amounts of carbon because of the heated combustion blast produced by the air forced up through the furnace. The product of these furnaces was pig iron, an alloy that melts at a lower temperature than steel or even wrought iron. Pig iron was then further processed to make steel.   Today, giant steel mills are essential for producing steel from iron ore. Steel making still uses blast furnaces that are merely refinements of the furnaces used by the old ironworkers. Improvements in the refinement of molten iron with blasts of air was accomplished by the 1855 Bessemer converter. Since the 1960s, electric arc furnaces have also been producing steel from scrap metal.   How Iron & Steel Work (Part 1 of 6) by M. Brain from Howstuffworks http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron.htm Have you ever wondered how people refine iron and steel? You probably have heard of iron ore, but how is it that you extract a metal from a rock? Here you can learn all about iron and steel. Related Websites from Howstuffworks: 2) How does Rust Work? by M. Brain http://science.howstuffworks.com/question445.htm 3) What does Case Hardened Mean When It's Stamped on a Piece of Metal? http://home.howstuffworks.com/question196.htm 4) Why do Tools have Drop Forged Stamped on Them? What is Drop Forging? http://science.howstuffworks.com/question376.htm   Iron And Steel Making Industry from Science, Technology and Engineering http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom67.html The 18th century use of coke instead of wood as the fuel marked the beginning of the iron and steel making industry that became so important over the next two centuries. Related Sections at Science, Technology and Engineering: 2) Casting Metal http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom68.html 3) From Ore To Metal - Part 1 http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom52.html 4) From Ore To Metal - Part 2 http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom56.html 5) From Ore To Metal - Part 3 http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom57.html 6) Machining Metals http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom69.html 7) Metal http://www.enged.com/students/matcom/matcom02.html   Medieval Iron and Steel -- Simplified by B. Hall from ORB (Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies) http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/scitech/iron_steel.html Iron is one of the most useful metals ever discovered, but it is also one of the more difficult metals to understand in history, especially in medieval history. Iron comes in several forms, and the complications involved in producing each of them fosters further confusion. Here you find a layman's guide to medieval iron. Related Websites: 2) Ferrous Metals and their Properties from UK Technology Education Centre http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/projects/material/ferrous.html 3) Iron http://www.minerals.org.au/downloads/pdf/Iron.pdf 4) Iron Downunder http://www.ga.gov.au/education/minerals/ironfact.html 5) Iron and Steel http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/ironsteel.html 6) Iron Working from Anglo-Saxon and Viking Crafts http://www.regia.org/ironwork.htm 7) Irons and Steels by H. Jack http://claymore.engineer.gvsu.edu/eod/material/material-7.html 8) Steel - 2000 Million Years in the Making http://www.library.unisa.edu.au/infores/steel/steel.htm   Virtual Steel Works by G.D. Yaros http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/DYaros/vsteel.htm Steel has been part of some of the greatest achievements in history; it was the "iron horse" and steel rails that helped carve a nation out of the frontier. Steel is the backbone of bridges, the skeleton of skyscrapers, the framework for automobiles. And at the dawn of the 21st century, it's still revolutionizing the way we live. Here you can find detailed information on how steel is made. Related Websites: 2) All About Steel http://www.ltvsteel.com/htmfiles/about.htm 3) Chemistry of Steelmaking from Corus http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4/chemistry/steel/index.html 4) History of Steel from Sun Belt Steel http://www.steelrep.com/News___Info/HISTOR_1/histor_1.HTM 5) How Steel is Made from UK Steel http://www.uksteel.org.uk/stmake.htm 6) Iron and Steel: A Trip Inside a Steel Mill http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/steel_mill.html 7) Iron and Steel Production to 1945 http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/econ/modbusiness/Iron%20&%20steel.pdf 8) Making of Steel http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/6570/steel.html#making 9) Making Steel from Muggah4Kids http://www.muggah4kids.org/whatHappened/theStory_4.asp 10) Making of Steel: Production of Molten Steel http://www.steel.org.uk/makstl.html 11) Physics of Steelmaking from Corus http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4/physics/corus/index.html 12) Processes of Iron and Steel Making http://www.topforge.co.uk/Processes.htm 13) Retrospective of Twentieth-Century Steel from New Steel http://www.newsteel.com/features/NS9911f2.htm 14) Steel Learning Center from American Iron and Steel Institute http://www.steel.org/learning/ 15) Steel Learning Centre from Steel Authority of India http://www.sail.co.in/learning/learning.htm 16) Steel Making from SteeleMart http://www.steelemart.com/steelmak.asp 17) Steel Making Industry http://www.wmrc.uiuc.edu/main_sections/info_services/library_docs/manuals/primmetals/ch . . . 18) Steel Manufacturing from Ball State University http://www.bsu.edu/web/acmaassel/steel.html 19) Steel Matter http://www.matter.org.uk/steelmatter/ 20) Types of Steel http://engr.bd.psu.edu/rcv/470/steeltypes.pdf    After visiting several of the websites and learning about iron and steel, complete one or more of the following activities . . .   Complete An Iron & Steel WebQuest. Adapt or follow the directions found at the following webQuest site: Wanna Write a Recipe for Steel? by W. Macala http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/websteelmakwe.html   Was There A Iron Furnace In Your Region? Many small iron furnaces were operated in early America. Some remains of those operations can be found in many different locations. Find out if there were ever an iron furnace operating nearby. Research and learn as much as possible about its use. See if you can locate any records and photographs related to the operation. Share all your findings.   Identify Iron And Steel Products. How many types of iron and steel products can you identify? Can arrange or group them into categories? Use a software graphic tool (Inspiration, MS Excell) to organize and display your items. Include illustrations.   Construct A Iron & Steel Timeline. Build a timeline that includes the important developments with iron and steel throughout history. Display and share your finished project.   Compare And Contrast Steel With Another Material. Pick one - - choose another material that is used to manufacture or construct things: stone, plastic, wood, another metal (lots to choose from), a composite, a fiber, whatever. Then compare and contrast the charateristics and properties of the two, steel and the other material.   Write A Story About Life Without Iron Or Steel. Imagine what life would be without iron or steel metals. What would happen if you woke up one day and found that iron and steel no longer existed? Write a science fiction story that embraces that concept. Share your story.   Log Your Use Of Iron And Steel. In your journal, keep a log of each use of an iron or steel product. Be sure to include an account of all items that you discard or dispose of during the time period as well as those new items that are acquired. See if you can maintain the record for at least one week. At the end of the period, summarize your findings and reflect on what you learn.   Websites By Kids For Kids Sir Henry Bessemer: Bessemer Steel Project by L.B. Khan & A.S. Khan http://web.isoi.edu.pk/Student_Projects/Inventor and Inventions/Henry Bessember.rev/He . . Sir Henry Bessemer, a British inventor, developed the Bessemer steel process along with his American counterpart, William Kelly. It was a very refined and cost effective innovation for the production of steel.   More Websites for Iron and Steel American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) http://www.steel.org/ This organization's mission is to promote steel as the material of choice and to enhance the competitiveness of the North American steel industry and its member companies. Related Organizations: 2) American Iron Ore Association (AIOA) http://www.aioa.org/ 3) AISE (Association of Iron and Steel Engineers) http://www.aise.org/ 4) International Iron and Steel Institute http://www.worldsteel.org/ 5) Iron and Steel Society (ISS) http://www.iss.org/ 6) Minnesota Iron Mining http://www.taconite.org/ 7) Steel Recycling Institute http://www.recycle-steel.org 8) UK Steel Association http://www.uksteel.org.uk/index.html Other Organizations: 9) American Foundry Society http://www.afsinc.org/ 10) American Welding Society http://www.aws.org/   Bessemer Process from Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessemer_process The Bessemer process was the first industrial process for inexpensively producing steel from molten pig iron. Related Websites: 2) Basic Oxygen Steel (BOS) Making Process http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm:1104/courses/BOS.html 3) Bessemer Steel Process by J. Walton http://webpub.alleg.edu/employee/m/mmaniate/pittprogress/walton.html 4) History of the Bessemer Process http://helium.vancouver.wsu.edu/~meeker/steel/history.htm 5) Kelly's Converter by J.H. Lienhard http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi762.htm   Blast Furnace from BBC History http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/blast/blast.shtml Up to 1709, furnaces could only use charcoal to produce iron. However wood was becoming expensive as the forests were being cleared for farmland and timber. This site houses an animation of the blast furnace process that utilized coke as a fuel. Related Website: 2) How a Blast Furnace Works from American Iron and Steel Institute http://www.steel.org/learning/howmade/blast_furnace.htm 3) How It Works: The Blast Furnace by J.A. Ricketts http://www.netcentral.co.uk/steveb/shelton/blast_furnace.htm 4) Introduction to Blast Furnace Technology from ATSI Engineering Services http://atsiinc.com/BF/BF_Index.htm   Dictionary of Metal Terminology from Metalmart, Inc. http://www.metal-mart.com/Dictionary/dictlist.htm Here is an extensive dictionary that covers every term you can think of . . .   Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking by J.A.T. Jones from American Iron and Steel Institute http://www.steel.org/learning/howmade/eaf.htm The electric arc furnace operates as a batch melting process producing batches of molten steel known "heats". Related Websites: 2) Electric Arc Furnace http://www.steel.org.uk/makstlc.html 3) Electric Arc Furnace http://www.nedians.8m.com/eaf.html 4) Electric Arc Furnace from Steel Authority of India (Sail) http://www.sail.co.in/learning/learning7.htm 5) Electric Arc Furnace: Process Description http://www.energysolutionscenter.org/HeatTreat/MetalsAdvisor/iron_and_steel/process . . . 6) Steel Making with Electric Arc Furnace http://www.arcfurnace.com/electric_arc_furnaces.html 7) Video: Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) http://www.matter.org.uk/steelmatter/steelmaking/eaf.htm    History of Thermal Joining by M.E. Sapp http://www.weldinghistory.org/ This site contains two related sections: (1) history of welding and (2) history of brazing. Related Websites: 2) Brazing Book http://www.handyharmancanada.com/TheBrazingBook/contents.htm 3) Trends in the Welding Industry http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/feedback/fc-mar99.htm 4) Welding and Joining Technologies (Links-site) from Vocational Information Center http://www.khake.com/page89.html     Manufacturing Engineering and Technology Homepage http://industrialtech.freeservers.com/newpage1.htm This website covers metal casting, forming and shaping, material removal, joining, surface treatment, and advanced manufacturing techniques for metal. Other Websites on Steel Fabrication: 2) Machining Resources (Links-site) from Vocational Information Center http://www.khake.com/page88.html 3) Making Tracks from Corus Steel http://www.coruseducation.com/RailWebRun/index1.html 4) Making of Wire by D. Trew http://www.barbwiremuseum.com/makingwire.htm   Minnesota Iron Mining http://www.taconite.org/ Minnesota’s six iron mining and processing operations produce two-thirds of the iron ore used to make steel in the United States. Related Website: 2) Iron Mining http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/iron-2.html 3) Iron Mining from Mining in Michigan http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/prehist/mining/iron.html 4) Iron mining 2002 by B. Kelleher from Minnesota Public Radio http://news.mpr.org/features/200212/30_kelleherb_ironyearender/ 5) Mining from Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Agency http://www.irrrb.org/mining.php 6) Mining Tour from National Steel Pellet Company http://www.nspellet.com/nsp/nsp_animation.html 7) Taconite from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/education/geology/digging/taconite.html   Muggah4Kids http://www.muggah4kids.org/index.htm Tar ponds and coke ovens are part of the Muggah Creek watershed. This area surrounds the steel plant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. For 100 years, waste from the steel plant and the community was dumped there. Learn how local people and government are working together to clean up the area.   Profile of the Iron and Steel Industry (1995) from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notebook Series http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/iron.html This profile report includes industrial process information, pollution prevention techniques, pollutant release data, regulatory requirements, compliance/enforcement data, history government and industry partnerships, innovative programs, contact names, bibliographic references, and a description of the research methodology. Related Reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notebook Series: 2) Profile of the Metal Castings Industry (1997) http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/casting.html 3) Profile of the Metal Fabrication Industry (1995) http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/fabric.html 4) Profile of the Metal Mining Industry (1995) http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/mining.html   Steel Manufacturing from U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs014.htm This site provides a summary of the nature of the industry, its working conditions, employment and occupations in the industry, and more.   Steelynx http://www.steelynx.net/ This searchable database connects to more than 7,500 links for steelmaking and steel-related technologies. Related Links-site: 2) Steel Resources on the Internet http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/5978/steelm.html   Steel News http://www.steelnews.net/ This is the source for daily news in the flat rolled steel market. Related Websites: 2) Key to Steel Articles from Key to Metals Task Force & INI International http://www.key-to-steel.com/Articles.htm 3) New Steel http://www.newsteel.com/   More on the History of Iron and Steel Age of Iron by R. Cowen http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/%7EGEL115/115CH5.html This site outlines the possible discovery and production of iron by early world civilizations. Related Sites: 2) Ancient African Iron Production by P.R. Schmidt and S.T. Childs from American Scientist http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/95articles/pschmidt.html 3) Furnace with Drip-Pit Exposed in Gully near Sokoto (Nigeria) http://apollo5.bournemouth.ac.uk/consci/africanlegacy/iron_smelting.htm 4) In Praise of Smiths by R. Cowen http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/%7EGEL115/115CH9.html 5) Iron and Steel -- Or Magic? http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/ENGINEER/art10.htm 6) Iron-working in Roman Britain http://www.clyes.clara.net/essays/ferrum.html   Iron and Steel from Appalachian Blacksmiths Association http://www.appaltree.net/aba/iron.htm This site provides a view of historic methods for producing and working iron and steel. Related Websites: 2) About Joanna Furnace from Hay Creek Valley History Association (PA) http://www.haycreek.org/about.htm 3) Blacksmith from Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Resource http://www.history.org/History/teaching/blksmith.cfm 4) Catoctin Iron Furnace from National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/cato/culthist/furnace.htm 5) Experiments in Historic Iron Making by D.J. Berry http://www.geocities.com/duncanjberry/index.html   Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World from PBS's American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/ Andrew Carnegie's life embodied the American dream: the immigrant who went from rags to riches, the self-made man who became a captain of industry, the king of steel. Related Websites: 2) Andrew Carnegie http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcarnegie.htm 3) Andrew Carnegie http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/andrewcarnegie.html 4) Andrew Carnegie http://voteview.uh.edu/carnegie.htm 5) Andrew Carnegie: American Hero of Social Responsibility by L.D. Ledger http://www.liberalartsandcrafts.net/contentcatalog/charity/carneg.shtml 6) Andrew Carnegie: A Tribute from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh http://www.carnegielibrary.org/exhibit/carnegie.html 7) Life of Industrialist and Philanthropist: Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919) http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/acbio.html 8) Meet Andrew Carnegie from Carnegie Corporation's Carnegie for Kids http://www.carnegie.org/sub/kids/carnegie.html   Henry Bessemer, Man of Steel from Science and Technology http://www2.exnet.com/1995/09/27/science/science.html Most people, if they remember him at all, remember Henry Bessemer as a British steel man, the man who invented the Bessemer Converter, which could make 30 tons of high-grade steel in half an hour. But Henry was a far more ingenious man than is generally realized... Related Websites: 2) Henry Bessemer - The Steel Man http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsteel.htm 3) Man of Steel: Henry Bessemer and the Converter http://www.angelfire.com/va3/metallurgy/bessemer.html 4) Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S: An Autobiography http://www.history.rochester.edu/ehp-book/shb/   Homestead and its Perilous Trades- Impressions of a Visit by H. Garland from McClure's Magazine http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/steel/June1894-Garland_Homestead.html This 1894 article provides the author's impression of a visit to a steel town. Related Articles: 2) Making Steel and Killing Men (1907) by W. Hard from Everybody's Magazine http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/steel/MakingSteel/ 3) Steel Workers (1909) by J.A. Fitch, 1909 from The Pittsburgh Survey http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/PittsburghSurvey/SteelWorkers/ 4) Wage-Earning Pittsburgh (1909) from The Pittsburgh Survey http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/PittsburghSurvey/Pittsburgh/ 5) Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town (1909) by M. Byington from The Pittsburgh Survey http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/PittsburghSurvey/Homestead/   “I Witnessed the Steel Strike”: Joe Rudiak Remembers the 1919 Strike by J. Rudiak & P. Gotlieb from History Matters http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/106/ Though the Great Steel Strike of 1919 failed in its immediate aims, it left a legacy in the steel regions of the United States that lasted for decades. In 1974 when historian Peter Gotlieb asked former steelworker Joe Rudiak, the son of Polish immigrants, about his participation in unionization struggles in the 1930s, he started by recalling his memories of the 1919 steel strike as a young boy. Here, Rudiak told how his father was blacklisted for acknowledging his support of the union. From such experiences, he explained, unionism got “embedded in you.” The site links to several related articles. Related Websites: 2) Chapter XXIV: The Steel Strike of 1919 from the Autobiography of Mother Jones http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/mj/bl_mj24.htm 3) Fitzpatrick and Foster: Behind America's Steelworkers from Illinois Periodicals Online http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ihy971207.html 4) Senate Hearings into 1919 Strike http://www.assumption.edu/users/McClymer/his261/SteelTestimony.html 5) Society: Steel from Birmingham Pittsburgh Traveler http://www.northbysouth.org/2000/Fraternal/steel%20page.htm   Nation of Steel by T.J. Misa (1995) Johns Hopkins University Press http://www.iit.edu/~misa/NOS/index.html This published book links the industrial age steel making developments with the expansion of railroads. This site contains the first five chapters of the text.    Saga of New Zealand Steel http://www.techhistory.co.nz/pages/Iron1.htm New Zealand is well endowed with deposits of iron sands along the western beaches of both main islands, but many attempts to establish an iron and steel industry foundered on the high titanium content of the ore.    U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971 from the Indiana University Digital Library Program (DLP) http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/steel/ This collection contains over 2,200 photographs of the Gary Works steel mill and the corporate town of Gary, Indiana. In images of compelling diversity, historians and the general public can view all aspects of this planned industrial community: the steel mill, the city, and the citizens who lived and worked there.    Websites For Teachers Changing Role of the Iron Range (Grades 4-5) by S.M. Loerts from AskERIC http://www.askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/Geography/. . . This lesson teaches students about mining, natural resources, and economies. The iron range is used as a case study with learners tracking ore mining to taconite to tourism. Children examine the changing economic function of the iron range.   Hopewell Furnace: A Pennsylvania Iron-making Plantation by R.G. Koman http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/97hopewell/97hopewell.htm Using the Hopewell Furnace as its focus, this lesson has students describe how natural resources influenced the location and development of the early American iron-making industry and identify the steps in making iron and iron products.   Taconite Rocks! (Grade 6) from Minnesota Iron Mining http://www.taconite.org/pdfs/curriculum.pdf This comprehensive curriculum was developed by educators on Minnesota's Iron Range. It offers a number of modules combining science, language arts, mathematics, and social studies that can be used in a variety of classroom settings.   Steel in Pittsburgh from Houghton Mifflin http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/3/laag/9.2.html Student's examine why Pittsburgh was an ideal location for steel production.   Teacher's Guide (Grades 4-12) U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971 from Indiana University Digital Library Program (DLP) http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/steel/tg/index.html Site houses a collection of lesson plans, learning objectives, and online activities for use in the classroom.   iron recycle blast furnace magnet stainless ferrous steel drum Fe forge alloy mining carbon taconite bridge smelting magnetic rust electric arc furnace welding ductility elasticity metal mild steel brittleness steel drum Iron Age "iron road" casting charcoal labor movement Bessemer converter conductivity cast iron "iron age" pig iron metallurgy tool steel iron oxide wrought iron foundry recycling industrial revolution slag Brinell hardness test industrial archaeology limestone hardness "pig-iron" quench anneal malleability meteoritic iron metallic structure heat treat hematite temper coke smelting iron ore molten steel        Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 3/03.