page_title: History of metallurgy in China
section_title: Iron
hierarchical_section_title: History of metallurgy in China / Iron
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinese iron workers smelting iron ore to make pig iron and wrought iron in 16th century. The left half of the illustration shows a fining process, while the right half displays men operating a blast furnace. The fining process uses calcium oxide which is spread over the raw iron and stirred in (撒潮泥灰) (see Don. Wagner analysis): this is a specific fining process, very different form later chinese puddling processes. This illustration is an original from the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia printed in 1637, written by the Ming Dynasty encyclopedist Song Yingxing (1587-1666). Picture taken on the web from at: http://donwagner.dk/MingFe/MingFe.html The picture also appears in Figure 14-10 on page 250 of E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-Chuan Sun's translation of the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966). Français&#160;: Pyrométallurgie par des ouvriers métallurgistes chinois pour obtenir de la fonte primaire et du fer, au 16ème siècle. La partie droite de l'illustration montre des ouvriers travaillant sur le haut fourneau, la partie de gauche montre le procédé d'affinage utilisé. Ce procédé d'affinage utilise une poudre réactive (le wuchaoni) et opère sur de la fonte en fusion (voir l'analyse de Don. Wagner)&#160;: il s'agit là d'un procédé d'affinage spécifique, et très différent des procédés chinois de puddlage, plus tardifs. Cette illustration est issue de l'encyclopédie Tiangong Kaiwu imprmée en 1637, écrite sous la dynastie Ming Dynasty par l'encyclopédiste Song Yingxing (1587-1666). Image récupérée du web à l'adresse&#160;: http://donwagner.dk/MingFe/MingFe.html Cette image apparaît également sur la figure 14-10 page 250 de la traduction de l'ancyclopédie par E-tu Zen Sun et Shiou-Chuan Sun (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966).
context_page_description: Metallurgy in China has a long history, with the earliest metal objects in China dating back to around 3,000 BCE. The majority of early metal items found in China come from the North-Western Region. China was the earliest civilization to produce cast iron.
context_section_description: In 2008, two iron fragments were excavated at the Mogou site, in Gansu. They have been dated to the 14th century BCE, belonging to the period of Siwa culture. One of the fragments was made of bloomery iron rather than meteoritic iron.
  Cast-iron artifacts are found in China before the 5th century BCE, as early as the Zhou dynasty of the 6th century BCE. An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has tentatively been associated with the Zhang Zhung culture described in early Tibetan writings.
  Around 500 BCE, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu achieved a temperature of up to 1130 °C, hot enough to use hearth as a blast furnace. At this temperature, iron combines with 4.3% carbon and melts. As a liquid, iron can be cast into molds, a method far less laborious than individually forging each piece of iron from a bloom.
  If iron ores are heated with carbon to 1420–1470 K, a molten liquid is formed, an alloy of about 96.5% iron and 3.5% carbon. This product is strong, can be cast into intricate shapes, but is too brittle to be worked, unless the product is decarburized to remove most of the carbon. The vast majority of Chinese iron manufacture, from the late Zhou dynasty onward, was of cast iron. However forged swords began to be made in the Warring-States-period: "Earliest iron and steel Jian also appear, made by the earliest and most basic forging and folding techniques."
  Iron would become, by around 300 BCE, the preferred metal for tools and weapons in China.
caption: A Chinese blast furnace, pouring out iron
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