• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2021

This study analyzes six slags excavated from the iron making site in Gogi-ri, Namwon, Korea to understand the characteristics of the ruins, and to confirm the iron making process performed at the time. The chemical components of the iron making by-products from the Gogi-ri site were analyzed, and the findings indicate total Fe contents between 23.24% and 37.56%, which are lower than the typical total Fe content found in ancient iron making processes. The deoxidation agent contents of the slags ranged from 43.88% to 58.13%, which are higher than the typical deoxidation agent content of ancient iron making processes. The high content suggests smooth separation between iron and slags, and TiO₂ detected from the site suggests the use of materials with high titanium content in the iron making in the region. As for the microstructures of the slags, some slags have long pillar-shaped fayalites, while others have pillar-shaped wüstite along with ulvöspinel. Slags from the forging furnace show hammer scales created by both the earlier stages and later stages of forging work. The findings suggest that the iron making site in Gogi-ri, Namwon, Korea used to be an iron making facility where a full range of iron making process was carried out ranging from smelting to forging, and the ironmakers used a wide array of technologies to manufacture iron products.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2022

The study, iron-making process was examined through the scientific analysis of six by-products that were obtained during iron making at the Songdu-ri site in Jincheon. The total Fe content of the slags excavated from the Songdu-ri site was 36.29-54.61 wt%, whereas the deoxidation agent was 26.48-49.08 wt%. The compound analysis result indicated that fayalite and wüstite are the main compounds in slag. Furthermore, the microstructure analysis result confirmed the presence of fayalite and wüstite in the slag. It can be inferred from the flat shape in a bright matrix structure of the hammer scales that forging was performed in the latter stage. The Raman micro-spectroscopy results confirmed that the surface was hematite (Fe₂O₄), middle layer was magnetite (Fe₃O₄), and inner layer was wüstite (FeO). The presence of smelting and smithing slags, spheroid hammer scales, and flake hammer scales suggests that at the Songdu-ri site, iron-making process is carried out by division of labor into producing iron bloom through direct smelting, refining and forge welding, and ingot production.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1619-1625
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• 2021

This paper demonstrates the possible nondestructive analysis of iron artifacts' metallurgical characteristics using neutron imaging. Ancient kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula used a direct smelting process for ore smelting and iron bloom production; however, the use of iron blooms was difficult because of their low strength and purity. For reinforcement, iron ingots were produced through refining and forge welding, which then underwent various processes to create different iron goods. To demonstrate the potential analysis using neutron imaging, while ensuring artifacts' safety, a sand iron ingot (SI-I) produced using ancient traditional iron making techniques and a sand iron knife (SI-K) made of SI-I were selected. SI-I was cut into 9 cm², whereas the entirety of SI-K was preserved for analysis. SI-I was found to have an average grain size of 3 ㎛, with observed α-Fe (ferrite) and pearlite with a body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice structure. SI-K had a grain size of 1-3 ㎛, α-Ferrite on its backside, and martensite with a body-centered tetragonal (BCT) structure on its blade. Results show that the sample's metallurgical characteristics can be identified through neutron imaging only, without losing any part of the valuable artifacts, indicating applicability to cultural artifacts requiring complete preservation.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.335-343
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• 2014

This study classified the result of non-metallic inclusion analysis and result of microstructure investigation on the ironware excavated in the Baekje region into Han River, Geum River, and Yeongsan River to estimate the iron making temperature and study the characteristics of regional and temporal characteristics of the heat treatment technology and steel making technology. Regardless of era, bloom iron and sponge iron are judged to be the major method for making as a directreduction process in all three regions. The result of the reinterpretation of the non-metallic inclusion by the oxide ternary constitutional diagram suggest that the temperature inside of the furnace is estimated to be between $1,100{\sim}1,300^{\circ}C$ while making the steel. The magnetic iron ores are the major raw material of steel ore and irons with high $TiO_2$ are estimated to use iron sands. Ironware with $CaO/SiO_2$ rate higher than 0.4% are considered to have artificially added the flux of calcareous materials. It was found that the iron making method is the solid caburizing-steel which caburizes low-carbon steels by the CO gas and $CO_2$ gas created when heating the forging furnace with charcoal. Also, the ironware manufacturers in the Baekje during 3rd century recognized the heat treatment technology as they performed carburizing process and quenching to intentionally increase the strength of necessary parts.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.387-392
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• 2001

Kobe Steel, LTD. and Midrex Technologies Inc. jointly developed the FASTMET$\circledR$ process as a steel mill waste recycle technology in which the DRI product meets BF feed material or BOF/EAF feed material requirements. FASTMET(R) process turns value-less wastes into valuable DRI and sellable zinc oxide, and gives the solution for the steel mill wastes recycling from both economical and environmental viewpoints. During the development of the process, Laboratory, Pilot Plant and Demonstration Plant tests were carried out from 1990 to 1998. The first FASTMET(R) commercial plant began operation in April, 2000 and the second commercial plant started in April, 2001 Both commercial plants have proceeded successfully preying that FASTMET$\circledR$ is a suitable process for recycling steel mill waste and for producing DRI as an iron source.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.3 no.1 s.3
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• pp.13-18
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• 1994

Chemical analysis and metallographic observations of the iron slag were carried out in an attempt to estimate the old iron-making process. The slag containing $9.3\%\;TiO_2$ without Cu indicates that the ore used for smelting was sand iron, not rock ore. The phases identified in the slag were $ulv\ddot{o}spinel$, magnetite, $w\ddot{u}stite$, fayalite etc. This also supports the fact that the smelted ore was iron sand. The total amount of Fe and slag-making components$(=SiO_2+Al_2O_3+MgO+CaO)$ were $40.7\%\;and\;36.1\%$, respectively. These values were average ones found in the old slags formed in the ancient iron-making process. Assuming that $TiO_2$ in the ore combines with FeO, resulting in the formation of $ulv\ddot{o}spinel$, the estimated temperature of smelting was found to be about $1200^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.747-754
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• 2004

Thermo-fluid characteristics in coke oven, sintering machine and blast furnace in iron-making facility are key processes related to the quality and productivity of the pig iron. Solid material in the processes usually forms a bed in a gas flow. For simulation of the processes by mathematical model, the solid beds are idealized to be a continuum and a reacting solid flow in the gas flow. Governing equations in the form of partial differential equations for the solid material can be constructed based on this assumption. Iron ore sintering bed is simulated and limited amount of parametric study have been performed. The results have a good agreement with the experimental results or physical phenomena, which shows the validity and applicability of the model.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.367-376
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• 2012

The ironware production technology is a measure to fathom the society's level of development in time. To understand iron-manufacure methods in the past, various investigations on the fine structures and additions of ironware remains and Iron ingot have been conducted in a way of natural science. This study metallurgically reclassifies remains excavated in iron-manufacture remains located in Beokje, Goyang, which are thought to be in time of Goryeo Dynasty, and draws an inference from the element analysis on the iron-manufacture and smelting technology. Iron ingot samples with a cast iron structure are divided into those with a white cast iron structure and those with a grey cast iron rich in P. The P content of grey cast iron appeared to be the result of adding a flux agent like lime, iron ingot and carbon steel iron ingot with a cast iron structure excavated in the area is regarded as pig iron which was made without a refining process. In this study it seems that two methods of making ironware were used in the area; one is the method of making ironware by pouring cast iron to the casting, and the other is the method of making carbon steel through the refinement of pig iron. It appears that highly even steel structure of carbon steel and a small amount of MnS inclusion are very similar with that of the modern steel to which Mn is artificially added. Nevertheless, these data alone cannot be used to determine the source of Mn in the carbon steel of the excavated from the iron-manufacture remains, which raises the need for further studies on the source and the possibility of carbon steel via the iron-manufacture process of cast iron.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2018

This study replicated traditional smelting methods to produce iron blooms from sand iron. The metallurgical properties of the slag and the iron blooms were analyzed. The sand iron materials used in the smelting experiments, which were based on ancient documents, were collected from Gyeong-Ju and Pohang. Analysis by WD-XRF and XRD showed that Gyeong-Ju's sand iron contains a high-titanium, with magnetite, and Pohang's sand iron contains a low-titanium, which magnetite and ilmenite were mixed. Analysis of the slag with XRD, and the micro-structure with metal microscopes and SEM-EDS, confirmed that the major compounds in the slag of the Gyeong-Ju's sand iron were fayalite and $w\ddot{u}stite$, and those in the slag of the Pohang's sand iron were titanomagnetite and fayalite. The differences in the main constituents were confirmed according to the Ti quantity. Finally, we observed the microstructures of the iron blooms. In the case of the iron bloom produced from Gyeong-Ju's sand iron, the outside was found to be dominantly a pearlite of eutectoid steel, while the inside was a hypo-eutectoid steel where ferrite and pearlite were mixed together. While, the major component of the iron bloom produced from Pohang's sand iron was ferrite, which is almost like pure iron. However, there were many impurities inside the iron blooms. Therefore, this experiment confirmed that making ironware required a process that involved removing internal impurities, refining, and welding. It will be an important data to identify the characteristics of iron by-products and the site through traditional iron-making experiments under various conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2014

Recently, global market competition of iron and steel products is ever increasing due to over-supply from increased number of industries in rapidly growing countries, such as China, Brazil, and Indonesia. To occupy the big market, major industries are trying to develop high quality, high performance steel products via developing a new iron and steel making process. In other words, development of a new and innovative steel plant is a key to cope with the tough situation. Design and development for the life cycle of iron and steel making plant is very much complex and multi-disciplinary. In this paper, Plant Systems Engineering (PSE), a tailored SE process for industrial plant based on ISO/IEC 15288 is used for the design of Continuous Casting Process (CCP) Plant system. The CCP is a crucial process in steel making plant, whose design technology is occupied by the advanced foreign companies. For the sake of increasing engineering capability for the design of CCP, we applied PSE Process for the renovation of the existing CCP Process. Through the study, we were convinced that the applied method can be used for other plant systems, and SE is really the way of thinking, design, and development of modern complex and multi-disciplinary systems where high risk factors are present throughout the whole life cycle.