Sometimes we take for granted where the things around us come from. When was the last time you thought about how your dinner fork was made or the bridge you drive across each day?
At Stead Engineering, we think steel is pretty amazing as before we manufacture items for our clients, this metal has already been around for literally millions of years, buried in the ground.
Steel companies around the world extract iron ore from the earth and grind it down into large rocks before it goes through the smelting process which heats the ore to melt out the metal.
Making steel is just one of three ways to process the iron into a useable form, but is the most refined metal that has all impurities removed, in order to make it much stronger.
1510 degrees celsius
An oxygen furnace is the most commonly used method of producing steel. Molten pig iron from a blast furnace is poured at a mind-melting 1510 degrees celsius, into a large refractory-lined container called a ladle. Here oxygen is blown through to lower the level of impurities. Chemicals are also added to remove sulphur and phosphorus. At this stage, other metals can be added to create stainless steel, which is resistant to rust and can be turned into everyday items such as cutlery and surgical instruments.
At Stead Engineering we design, manufacture and install anything from a mobile heater for your garden to a factory conveyor system.
For more information, please call us on 01482 236556 or email [email protected]
