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Iron and Steel Making
Published in Alan Cottrell, An Introduction to Metallurgy, 2019
Bessemer’s original product could not be cast satisfactorily into ingot moulds; it contained too much oxygen. This combined with carbon in the metal on cooling and the CO bubbles so formed caused the metal to froth up in its mould. The problem was solved in 1857 by Robert Mushet, who deoxidized the steel by adding a little manganese to it, in the form of ferromanganese or spiegeleisen (cf. § 11.11), before casting. The final stage of removing oxygen, called killing, is important in all steel-making processes. The carbon content of the deoxidized metal could then be adjusted to the required level by small additions and the cast metal then solidified quietly in its ingot mould. Manganese, which remains in the steel after deoxidation, has another important function. It combines with sulphur and converts the harmful iron sulphide films into harmless globules of manganese sulphide, MnS.
The Advent of Steam and Mechanical Engineering
Published in Ervan Garrison, A History of Engineering and Technology Artful Methods, 2018
Only a fraction of the carbon is left in the iron, which upon cooling becomes a high grade steel (i.e., “mild steel” is a formidable competitor with wrought iron). The Bessemer converter allowed air to be blown in through the bottom of the vessel thus oxidizing the silica and manganese impurities then the carbon. Bessemer’s original design could not remove sulfur impurities which form FeS which separates at the crystal boundaries weakening the metal. Bessemer’s colleague, Robert Mushet’s solution was to add iron containing manganese, spiegeleisen, about 20% manganese which removed the sulfur.17 By 1868, Mushet had introduced tungsten into steel making a self-hardening metal ideal for engineer’s cutting tools and in 1887, R.A. Hadfield developed manganese steel.
Historical overview on the development of converter steelmaking from Bessemer to modern practices and future outlook
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, 2019
There is one more invention and knowhow, which made the converter process applicable in industrial use. When the low-carbon product was tapped from the converter, it had very high oxygen content; i.e. it was undeoxidised, unkilled steel, not of high quality. Robert Mushet remelted defective metal from Bessemer and came up with adding spiegeleisen (cast iron with 5–15%Mn), thus deoxidising the melt and converting it into usable material (Barracglough 1990). Although supported by other innovators, Bessemer's invention was revolutionary, and it influenced the rapid growth of steel production during the next decades. Finally, it should be noted that William Kelly in Kentucky, the United States, had made contemporaneous experiments by air blast in molten pig iron, and could make malleable steel. He also noticed the process was very fast with strong heating effect and he ‘proclaimed his discovery to make steel without fuel’. Unfortunately, he was not able to convince the local ironmasters who rejected his idea. Consequently, Kelly got an American patent to his invention only 1857, when Bessemer had been granted an American patent the year before (Habashi 1994).