According to a theory of classical archeology, the processing of the first iron ore in the World occured at the largest forest fire in the current Kaz Mountains in Turkey in ancient times, when the warming of the contents of the soil to very high temperatures enough to shape the iron. Another theory is that humans learned to process iron due to meteorites falling on Earth. It is believed that humans were able to make primitive tools and weapons by forging and machining the metal that came with the meteor.According to a theory of classical archeology, the processing of the first iron ore in the World occured at the largest forest fire in the current Kaz Mountains in Turkey in ancient times, when the warming of the contents of the soil to very high temperatures enough to shape the iron. Another theory is that humans learned to process iron due to meteorites falling on Earth. It is believed that humans were able to make primitive tools and weapons by forging and machining the metal that came with the meteor.Although iron and steel have been used for 5000 years, until two centuries earlier they were only involved in the manufacture of weapons and items. However, with the start of crude iron production in England in the 18th century, iron began to be used as a building material. The first structures built using iron are bridges. The first material used is Font. The compressive strength of the F ont is high and its tensile strength is low.The first bridge built using font is Coalbrookdale Bridge on the Severn river in England, which is estimated to have been completed in about 1778. It was built by Abraham Darby. Abraham Darby was the first to be able to produce coke using hard coal and to process iron using coke.Until the 1700s, charcoal was used in iron processing due to its rich carbon content, but the depletion of European forests in those years made it difficult to process iron. There was plenty of hard coal in Britain, but there was not enough carbon in hard coal. For these reasons, coking coal is considered a great invention that started the steel age.In the following years, with the invention of the methods of Bessemer (1855), Siemens-Martin (1864), Thomas (1879), the refining of raw iron in liquid state was achieved and the possibility of cast steel production emerged. Thus, since the late 1800’s, cast steel has been the most produced type. Especially with the use of electric furnaces at the beginning of the 20th century, great progress has been made in steel construction techniques.Due to the rapid construction of steel structures, their construction was widely observed after the World War I, during and after the World War II. Steel construction was preferred in order to enable the industry, which collapsed after the first world war, to start production again. During the Second World War, the German army occupied the lands of dozens of states up to the Volga River, dismantled the equipment of the industrial buildings and moved them to new lands and switched to rapid industrial production in these lands only with the use of steel carrier systems.After the war, the need for rapid construction of industrial, social-sports facilities, schools and residential buildings was only possible with the use of steel. Thus, it was possible to improve the calculation methods and design principles of steel structure carrier systems. Welding techniques have also been developed in this process.Iron is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and constitutes approximately 4.5% of the crust. Except for meteorites, it does not exist as a free element. Iron ore in nature;– Oxides [magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite (Fe2O3)],
– Hydroxides [geotite (FeO (OH)) and limonite (FeO (OH) nH2O)],
– Carbonates [siderite (Fe2CO3)]Almost all ore types contain Silicon Oxide (Si2O). Most ore types contain small amounts of Phosphorus, Aluminum, Sulfur, etc. contains elements.a) Magnetite
b) Hematite
c) Geotite
d) Lemonite
e) SideriteIron ore is burned in a blast furnace with coke and melted to produce crude iron. Coke has two functions; the first is to provide the required temperature, the second is to enter a chemical reaction with iron. The carbon in coke forms an alloy with iron, and this alloy also includes substances such as Silicon, Aluminum, Sulfur from crude iron ore. At the end of the process slag and blast furnace gases are also produced. Since the slag has a low density, it collects on the molten raw iron and is thrown out of the slag hole in the blast furnace. Since the carbon ratio of the raw iron obtained is high (3-5%), it is not suitable for deformation and welding. For these reasons, steel or cast iron can be produced by processing raw iron, depending on the method and additives used. It is produced in a cast iron cupola furnace. It contains approximately 2 ~ 4% carbon. Steel can be obtained by methods such as Siemens-Martin, Electric Arc, Oxygen Blowing. As a result of these methods, cast steel, forged steel or rolled steel is obtained.
