Abstract
II.
IN a previous communication (NATURE,vol. xlvi. p. 283) the problem of the distribution and absorption of carbon by iron has been discussed, and it has been shown that the process is akin to that of the solution of a salt soluble in water or an acid liquid, that at low temperature solution proceeds slowly, the solubility increasing with the temperature, until at the final high heat of Bessemer blown metal, or fluid nearly pure iron, the reaction is almost instantaneous; the carbon, and also manganese, contained in the spiegel-eisen used for this purpose diffusing throughout the fluid metal in a very short space of time. The same occurs when carbon only, in the form of charcoal or coke, is added in lieu of spiegel, as in the Darby process of carburising. By this latter process, however, about 30 per cent. excess of carbon must be added over and above the theoretical quantity required to insure a given percentage of carbon, for instance, ½per cent. For lower percentages the excess must still be maintained, but with a corresponding diminution of the total weight of carbon used. In some instances more than 30 per cent. is used, according to the methods of procedure. In practice this holds good and the quantity of carbon required can thus be regulated.
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PARRY, J. On the Carburisation of Iron. Nature 47, 560–561 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/047560a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/047560a0