Posted on 04/09/2025 8:07:39 PM PDT by Red Badger
bkmk
True, but iron has too much carbon in it. The carbon precipitates as flakes of carbon when the iron solidifies. These weaken the iron and make it brittle. This excess carbon is removed in order to make much stronger and more ductile (bendable) steel.
I’ve burned a tire or two to keep the skeeters away while fishin’ in the crick....
It depends solely on application and the science of annealing and/or tempering. Example would be you can take all the brittleness out of high carbon steel by annealing it. Application and “fatigue” are the main factors in choosing the proper alloy for the job soft or hard.
There really is an exact science of these combinations depending on application. Take Rails for example. If Rails were too soft they would only last a week of heavy Train traffic. They would just mush out. Yet at the same time how they react to temperature expansion and contraction can even be a huge factor.
I watched the local line put 50 miles of new rail in one time only to pull it all back out and replace it again. The metallurgy was not correct so when summer came it expanded far too much and was buckling the rails causing the spikes to pull and derailments.
You could literally look down what was supposed to be a straight shot and it was wavy by four or five feet every few hundred yards. Looked like a snake...
The “Temperature” of a continuous railroad track is an important factor in whether or not the track will buckle in compression, or even fracture in tension. It is defined as the track temperature at which there is zero thermal (tensile or compressive) stress in the rails due to ambient temperatures. It is strongly influenced by the ambient temperature when it is laid. The stresses change with the number and degrees of curvature in the track as well as ambient temperature in service. Here’s a good explanation: https://www.railtemperature.com/Research/Ensco_Temperature_prediction.pdf
That is why they usually strap two sharks together like they did for the P-38.
Cast iron has a much higher carbon content than steel.
You are correct sir. Cole is not just for heat, it is the carbon source, as you said.
The Devil is in the details. The electricity has to be generated as cleanly as the iron is smelted. That means hydroelectric or nuclear. One is not widely available; the other is opposed by too many morons.
Plus iron is not steel.
The iron still has to be melted at a very high temp to add the other metals to form an alloy.............
Yep, Question to the writers should have asked: Where does the electricity come from?
Was the inventor named Hank Rearden?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.