In message , The Natural Philosopher
writes
Andy Dingley wrote:
On 15 June, 09:09, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
Andy Dingley wrote:
On 15 June, 00:48, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
but cast iron isn't pure iron.
Its absurdly high carbon steel :-)
No you idiot, it's lumps of iron sitting next to lumps of carbon.
Neither is alloyed.
who mentioned alloyed?
Steel is an alloy between the carbon and the iron (i.e. whatever
it's
crystals of, they're a combination of the two).
Cast iron is grains of iron, with the carbon free between them and
unalloyed.

How odd that none of the carbon makes it into the iron :-)

Think again.

Pure iron is uber soft and ductile. Cast iron is anything but.

In general, bulk cast iron has more carbon than a high carbon steel,
but the iron grains are still pure iron.

At the risk of furthering this dispute... traditionally, cast ?? plough
shares were left out to weather *because they last/wear longer*.

regards

--
Tim Lamb