Iron is an alloy that can be modified by adding other metals and carbon. It is most commonly used as steel. Pure iron is soft, so it is used in alloys like pig iron, cast iron, and wrought iron. Wrought iron has a low carbon content and is tough, malleable, and easily welded. Cast irons include white and gray cast iron and are brittle with a low melting point but good machinability. The properties of iron alloys depend on their chemical composition, especially carbon and alloying elements like manganese, silicon, and phosphorus. Iron alloys have a variety of mechanical properties and are widely used in construction, machinery, vehicles, and infrastructure due to their

1. IRON & ITS PROPERTIES

2. IRON Pure iron is a metal It oxidizes readily in the presence of oxygen and moisture. In order to obtain metallic iron, oxygen must be removed from naturally occurring ores by chemical reduction. The properties of iron can be modified by alloying it with various other metals (and some non-metals, notably carbon and silicon) to form steels.

3. Engineering Applications The Construction Of Machinery And Machine Tools, Automobiles, The Hulls Of Large Ships, And Structural Components For Buildings Rail Transportation Oil And Gas Industries Electrical Equipment Appliances And Utensils

4. Commercial Iron Since pure iron is quite soft, it is most commonly used in the form of steel. Some of the forms in which iron is produced commercially include: Pig iron has 3.5–4.5% carbon Cast iron contains 2–4% carbon, 1–6% silicon, and small amounts of manganese Wrought iron contains less than 0.25% carbon.

5. Wrought Iron An iron alloy with a very low carbon content. has fibrous inclusions, known as slag. is tough, malleable, ductile and easily welded. A modest amount of wrought iron was used as a raw material for manufacturing of steel, which was mainly to produce swords, cutlery and other blades.

7. Wrought Iron Wrought iron lacks the carbon content necessary for hardening through heat treatment. An advantage of its low carbon content is its excellent weldability sheet wrought iron cannot bend as much as steel sheet metal Wrought iron can be cast, but no engineering advantage in that.

9. Cast Irons White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due to its carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through. Grey cast iron is named after its grey fractured surface, which occurs because the graphitic flakes deflect a passing crack and initiate countless new cracks as the material breaks.

10. Cast Irons Cast iron tends to be brittle. low melting point, good fluidity, castability, excellent machinability, resistance to deformation, and wear resistance

11. Cast Irons

12. Chemical composition

13. Effect of chemical composition %C: Carbon is often added to increase its hardness. However, the increased hardness comes with a disadvantage -it is much less ductile. Careful control of the heat treatment allows one to control hardness and ductility. %P: Phosphorus can have beneficial as well as harmful effects. The addition of only 0.17% phosphorus increases both the yield and tensile strength of low-carbon sheet steel. cold-forming applications. deep drawability. improve machining characteristics and atmospheric corrosion resistance. Detrimental effects of phosphorus include various forms of embrittlement which reduce the toughness and ductility

14. Effect of chemical composition %S: it increases machinability. The amount generally used for this purpose is from 0.06 to 0.30%. Sulphur is detrimental to the hot forming properties. %Mn: It is normally present in all steel and functions both as a deoxidizer and also to impart strength and responsiveness to heat treatment. Usually present in quantities from 0.5% to 2%, but certain special steels are made in the range of 10% to 15%.

15. Effect of chemical composition %Si: Silicon is one of the common deoxidizers used during the process of manufacture. has a beneficial effect on certain properties such as tensile strength. In higher percentages, silicon is added as an alloy to produce certain electrical characteristics.

16. Physical properties

17. Physical Properties Density: important with respect to strength:weight Specific heat capacity: the measure of the heat energy required to increase the temperature of a unit quantity of a substance by unit degree. lower this value, higher is the temperature rise in the material. Thermal Conductivity: the property of a material that indicates its ability to conduct heat.

18. Physical Properties Electric Resistivity: a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows the movement of electrical charge. Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: is a thermodynamic property of a substance. It relates the change in temperature to the change in a material's linear dimensions. It is the fractional change in length per degree of temperature change.

19. Mechanical Properties

20. Mechanical Properties Tensile Strength: maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched, divided by the original cross-sectional area of the material. Yield Point: stress at which material yields & begins to deform plastically. Poisson’s Ratio: The absolute value of the ratio of the lateral to longitudinal strains

21. Poisson’s Ratio

22. Mechanical Properties Ductility: The ability of a material to undergo plastic deformation without fracture. Brittleness: Material behaviour where fracture takes place with little or no plastic deformation. Elongation: Increase in length in tensile testing, usually expressed as a %age of the original gage length. Young’s Modulus: The ratio of stress to strain in the elastic range in tension or compression.

23. Other properties Material properties that influence their castability include their pouring temperature, fluidity, shrinkage, and slag/dross formation tendencies.

24. Alloys of Iron Carbon steel contains 2.0% carbon or less, with small amounts of Mn, S, P, and Si. Alloy steels contain varying amounts of carbon as well as other metals, such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten, etc. Their alloy content raises their cost, and so they can usually only be justified for specialist uses.

25. Disadvantages of Iron Advantages: Tough and durable Available in various types i.e. cast iron, wrought iron etc. Provides high security Resistant to termite attack Disadvantages: Rust and corrode easily when exposed to water and air. Need high finish (paint etc.) to prevent rusting. Iron is good conductor of heat, It become very hot to touch in hot days.

26. Properties of Iron forges as if it were clay it takes on texture, chisels Highly plastic, spreads and draws out with ease. Cleaned easily to give a bright silvery finish. With continuous hot bending the material showed no sign of cracking that would have occurred with mild steel had it been subjected to the same treatment

27. Magnets Soft magnets have high permeability. Used in generators, electromagnets, transformers. Pure iron used in elctrotransformers. Permeability is prop to MS2