wrought mild for making railings and stairs
Most of the people may think that cast iron and
wrought iron are same but there is difference between the two. Cast iron is the
iron which is melted and then poured in a mold and then allowed to cool.
Whereas, wrought iron is iron which is heated and then worked with tools. An
iron alloy which has low carbon content, is known as wrought iron or wrought
mild. Carbon percentage in cast iron is higher than that of wrought mild. Wrought
iron or wrought mild is tough corrosion resistant and can be welded easily. Wrought mild is malleable means it can be converted in to thin sheets and ductile
which means it can be converted in to thin wires. Before the development of
steel, wrought iron was most commonly in use and the name wrought, given to it
is due to reason that it was hammered and rolled.
Wrought iron consists of more than 99% of iron by
mass and a small amount of slag, which is forged into fibers and it is
thoroughly refined. Slag present in wrought iron makes it easy to use for
blacksmithing operations, and also makes it fibrous. Silicate filaments in
slag, protects the iron from getting corroded and reduce the effect fatigue,
which may be caused due to shock and vibration. Refined wrought iron was used
to produce swords, axes, cutlery and chisels and most of the sharp-edged tools.
Uses of wrought iron were declined after mild steel came in use, due to
improvement in its property of brittleness with ferrous metallurgy and steel was
cheaper than wrought iron. Now-a-days, wrought iron is not produced on commercial
scale, and many products, which are said to be made of wrought iron are made
from mild steel.
Basically, wrought iron were used for
decorative fences, railings, porches, grill, hardware etc; Few of the
characteristics of wrought iron are, it is ductile, magnetic, malleable and it
has high elasticity and tensile strength and it becomes stronger when it is
more worked. Wrought iron may deteriorate over long period of time and it can
be controlled by preventive maintenance. Other than this, there may be human
induced problems such as vandalism, which can occur randomly. Wrought mild is
generally fatigue resistant, even if deformation is caused due to overloading,
it will function properly. There may be permanent deformation, when wrought
iron is overloaded beyond its yield point. There may be connection failure due
to chemical or mechanical processes.
