Brian Awty

Abstract

The theory that blast fumaces evolved by stages from the high bloomery, with performance improving and product-quality evolving from white cast iron to grey, as temperatures increased, is challenged. Slags from the earliest blast fumaces already suggest high efficiency, and this is confirmed by examination of 15th and 16th-century artefacts. Early blast fumaces were built in areas where wood was cheap or even free of charge, so the opposite development, from high-temperature grey cast iron in the 15th and 16th centuries to white cast iron during the 17th and 18th centuries, when ironmasters faced escalating charcoal prices, a situation from which coke smelting rescued them, seems more likely.

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References
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How to Cite
Early cast irons and the impact of fuel availability on their production. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 30(1), 17-22. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/426
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