A manual on dental metallurgy / by Ernest A. Smith.

  • Smith, Ernest A. (Ernest Alfred)
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A manual on dental metallurgy / by Ernest A. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    254/334 (page 234)
    IRON. SYMBOL, Fu (tV'iTuiii). ATOMIC WEIGHT, 56. Occurrence.—Irou is one of the most abundant and widely distributed elements, being found in nature in the metallic state in small quantities as vietcoric-iron of ultra-teiTestrial origin ; also in combination with oxygen forming the minerals magnetite and red hajinatitc, with oxygen and water the brown hasmatites, and with carbonic acid, the spathic ore, these minerals forming the chief sources of the metal. Iron is also found largely in combination with sulphur and arsenic, but these compounds are not employed for the extraction of the metal, owing to the difficulty of completely separating these substances from the iron, and theii- deleterious effect on the final product when ]n'esent. The iron of commerce exists in three distinct forms, namely, cast iron, wrought iron and steel, each of which exhibits different projjerties. Cast Iron, or pig iron, is the j)roduct obtained by smelting iron ores in the blast furnace, and besides iron usually contains from-2 to 4 per cent, carbon from 0.2 to 3 per cent, silicon and varying proportions of manganese (generally under 2 per cent, in ordinary- cast irons); with small proportions of sul])hiir and of