Puddling Furnace

A furnace is a device that generates heat. The furnace can also refer to a direct fired heater, that are used in various chemical and mineral industries. The heat is generated either by fuel or by electric ignition.

Puddling furnace involves the technology to create wrought iron from the pig iron. The presence of carbon in the pig iron makes it brittle. However these carbon impurities are burnt by the puddling furnace. The burning of the impurities results in the creation of malleable low-carbon steel.

The furnace is constructed in such a way that the iron does not come in contact with fuel and the hot air is pulled over the iron. This system is generally known as a reverberatory furnace or open-hearth process.

The iron is melted and are mixed with the oxides of hematite. The mixture is then stirred vigorously. This stirring causes the oxygen present in the oxides to react with various impurities like silicon, manganese etc. in the pig iron. This results in the forming of gases which are removed out the chimney.

The addition of more fuel results in the rising of the temperature. This heating not only melts iron completely but also melt carbon as well. The burning of the carbon results in the rising of melting temperature therefore furnace has to be continually fed during this process. Finally the carbon is mostly burned off and the iron forms into a spongy plastic material, indication that the process is complete and the material can be removed.