PURE IRON
Pure iron is a common metal but it is mostly confused with other metals such as steel and wrought iron. All these metals vary in composition. A few facts about pure iron such as its carbon content make it unique and different from the other metals. The carbon content in pure iron is always less than 0.008. This shows how less the impurities are.
Pure iron is silvery colored and is extremely lustrous. However, its most important property is that it is very soft. Its other properties include easy corrosion in the presence of moist air and high temperatures.
Pure iron is present in copious amounts in the earth crust – 6.2%. Second only to Aluminum.
Pure iron may be soft but one can’t obtain it through smelting. Smelting renders it impure as it increases the carbon content. Also, it becomes hard. If the carbon content goes above 0.2%, then it is no longer pure iron. It is steel. Steel is very hard when compared to pure iron.
The melting point of ferrite; as it is scientifically called is 1530°C. Heating iron to extremely high temperatures can make it lose its properties such as crystalline nature (909°C) and magnetism (768°C). When it is cooled down, then all the reactions are reversed.
Ferrite is available in the forms alpha, beta and gamma.
As aforementioned, even though wrought iron is called pure iron at times, it is not pure iron. Wrought iron and steel have their own properties that are different from pure iron.
There is electrical pure iron that is the purest form. It has 99.5% of iron and very small amounts of impurities such as phosphorous, sulfur and carbon. This is the reason why it has high permeability, high magnetically stable and has high saturation magnetic induction with low coercivity.
Since it has soft magnetic properties, it is used as a preferable choice for aviation instrumentation, electronic tubes, electromagnetic valve, magnetic separator and electromagnetic shielding.
Soft iron, as it is also called is used in electromagnets, electric motors and magnetic assemblies. It is known to have the ability to create a magnetic field that is about 50,000 times as intense as the air core.
One can thus make magnetic cores with soft iron core because it can endure very high temperature too and won’t saturate.
Hard iron is not preferred because it loses its magnetism when the magnetic field is removed. This is a very important application.
However, the electric conductivity of soft iron is a drawback. It wastes energy and the metal heats up at AC frequencies.
Pure iron is silvery colored and is extremely lustrous. However, its most important property is that it is very soft. Its other properties include easy corrosion in the presence of moist air and high temperatures.
Pure iron is present in copious amounts in the earth crust – 6.2%. Second only to Aluminum.
Pure iron may be soft but one can’t obtain it through smelting. Smelting renders it impure as it increases the carbon content. Also, it becomes hard. If the carbon content goes above 0.2%, then it is no longer pure iron. It is steel. Steel is very hard when compared to pure iron.
The melting point of ferrite; as it is scientifically called is 1530°C. Heating iron to extremely high temperatures can make it lose its properties such as crystalline nature (909°C) and magnetism (768°C). When it is cooled down, then all the reactions are reversed.
Ferrite is available in the forms alpha, beta and gamma.
As aforementioned, even though wrought iron is called pure iron at times, it is not pure iron. Wrought iron and steel have their own properties that are different from pure iron.
There is electrical pure iron that is the purest form. It has 99.5% of iron and very small amounts of impurities such as phosphorous, sulfur and carbon. This is the reason why it has high permeability, high magnetically stable and has high saturation magnetic induction with low coercivity.
Since it has soft magnetic properties, it is used as a preferable choice for aviation instrumentation, electronic tubes, electromagnetic valve, magnetic separator and electromagnetic shielding.
Soft iron, as it is also called is used in electromagnets, electric motors and magnetic assemblies. It is known to have the ability to create a magnetic field that is about 50,000 times as intense as the air core.
One can thus make magnetic cores with soft iron core because it can endure very high temperature too and won’t saturate.
Hard iron is not preferred because it loses its magnetism when the magnetic field is removed. This is a very important application.
However, the electric conductivity of soft iron is a drawback. It wastes energy and the metal heats up at AC frequencies.
