In the afternoon, he officially began to experiment with melting magnetite, there is a difference between ironmaking and steelmaking, Yang Wenli used to make steel in a crucible in Maoshan Chong, but ironmaking was his first practice.

First of all, the raw materials of ironmaking and steelmaking are different, and steelmaking is purified with iron and steel to further remove impurities and reduce carbon content, so that it can reach the ideal carbon content standard.

However, the raw material of ironmaking is iron ore, and iron in nature exists in the form of compounds, so iron ore is not actually iron, but only iron-containing compounds, such as: Fe2O3, so ironmaking is to reduce iron from iron-containing compounds.

The reducing agents of ironmaking are carbon monoxide and limestone, of which carbon monoxide is the product of incomplete combustion of coal or charcoal, which is why the ironmaking temperature is only more than 1600 degrees and the steelmaking temperature is more than 2000 degrees, because the combustion is too sufficient, and its by-product carbon monoxide is gone.

Modern society is blast furnace ironmaking, which is to mix coke, limestone, and iron ore into the furnace for smelting. Yang Wenli will also build a blast furnace, but now he doesn't need it, so he still uses a crucible to smelt iron, like a blast furnace, putting charcoal powder, limestone, and iron ore in the crucible, mixing while melting, and at the same time fishing out the slag, and finally getting high-quality pig iron.

……

"Woo ???" As the temperature of the furnace increased, after Yang Wenli fished out the slag a few times, he actually saw that the molten iron was already very pure, and the knowledge that he had heard that magnetite was difficult to be restored was actually wrong.

Seeing that the molten iron was qualified, Yang Wenli immediately scooped out the molten iron with a spoon, poured it into a pottery mold that had already been prepared, and cast it into a pig iron ingot.

The molten iron cooled quickly, and after half an hour, the mold could be opened and the cast iron ingot could be taken out, Yang Wenli violently hammered the depression of the cast iron ingot with a big hammer, and smashed it from it after a few hammers, revealing the dark gray iron section, and the first one tried out a very high-quality gray iron, and Yang Wenli immediately danced with joy.

In fact, this is a coincidence of many reasons, the so-called magnetite in Yang Wenli's mouth is actually hematous hematite, which is the magnetite oxidized in nature and turned into hematite, but its appearance retains the characteristics of magnetite, such as color, strong magnetic properties and so on.

In modern society, magnetite must also be crushed, beneficiated, and then oxidized into hematite before it can really start smelting. Hematite is very easy to reduce, and it is the iron ore commonly used in ironmaking in modern society.

This is the reason why Yang Wenli was very surprised, and he didn't know the principle.

Moreover, the hematite that Yang Wenli, Rentian and Rendi carried back has been washed by the water, and nature has already helped him to sort the ore, and after he came back, he used iron magnetic separation again, and these iron ores can already be called high-quality concentrate sands.

The third reason is that Yang Wenli used crucible to make iron, and the charcoal and charcoal powder used to avoid the harmful elements such as phosphorus and sulfur in the coal from seeping into the pig iron. If he had switched to using the blast furnace method and using coal to make iron, he would definitely not have smelted high-quality gray iron so easily, and of course, high-quality iron ore raw materials were also a major reason.

Gray iron, also known as cast iron, is soft, has very good casting properties, and is processed. However, Yang Wenli only uses it as a raw material for steelmaking now, so even white iron is the same.

The trial was successful, Yang Wenli immediately instructed Yang Rentian to send someone to the creek to carry the iron ore back, this time it was not an experiment, but a large amount of smelting, so all the Tuntian soldiers should be sent to carry the iron ore back, one person carries a hundred catties, twenty people is half a ton, and two hundred Tuntian soldiers can carry five tons of iron ore back at a time.

After the iron ore was carried back, Yang Wenli sent three more Tuntian soldiers with poor physique, cowardly personality, and unsuitable for being soldiers to the armory workshop to help him smelt iron.

The three of them are all from poor backgrounds, with no names, only cheap names, one is called Zhang Ergou, one is called Tie Dan and the other is called Mazi.

Yang Wenli started by weighing the materials, and taught them how much iron ore should be, how much charcoal powder should be, how much limestone should be, what heat to cook, how to stir, when to bake, etc.

handed over the iron-making matter to the three Tuntian soldiers, and Yang Wenli went to do other work himself.

He wanted to make clay molds, including clay molds for Yang Dao steel molds, steel screw molds, and a large number of Mitsubishi arrow clay molds. Although the clay mold can be reused many times, there is also loss, and the number is large, and the mold will be a lot.

After smelting all the iron ore into pig iron, Yang Wenli taught the three Tuntian soldiers how to make steel, and the furnace was still the same furnace, but with a dome-shaped furnace cover, and it was necessary to blast more diligently to increase the furnace temperature.

It's the same for stirring, also add limestone, and there is an observation hole in the lid of the furnace that can be used to stir and add limestone.

When it was time to produce the molten steel, Yang Wenli taught them how to judge whether the molten steel was qualified, and when the molten steel reached bright white, Yang Wenli ordered the cover to be tapped.

After that, it was casting, and the clay mold made by Yang Wenli alone was just dry and ready to be cast.

After that, the newly assembled human extruder was used to cast the Yang knife, and then the knife handle, swallow, scabbard and so on were installed.

In short, after several months of hard work, Yang Wenli cast a large number of Mitsubishi steel arrows and Yang knives.

Just after a few months of training, the strength of the slave soldiers and the tuntian soldiers reached the standard, and they could just train the three tricks of archery and splitting, and the time was just right.

After making the most urgently needed bows, arrows, and Yang knives, Yang Wenli began to study armor wholeheartedly.

Yang Wenli's ideal armor is Western-style plate armor, and the armor craftsmanship such as Shanwen armor and chain mail used in the Ming Dynasty at this time is very complex, and there are many artistic sculpture processes, which he will not know. Those things are just good-looking, and they don't improve the protection performance in the slightest.

Western plate armor is forged, and there must be a hydraulic forging hammer, and that thing is not simple, although Yang Wenli can definitely make it as long as he does it with his heart. But it was time-consuming, and he just didn't have time now, because he was going to the Northeast next year.

Yang Wenli wanted an easier way to replace the forging hammer, and he thought of the extruder, the kind of simple mechanical extruder used to cast Yang knives.

However, the armor requires higher strength, because the armor cannot be as thick as a raised knife, and it must be able to resist the blows of heavy arrows and cold weapons.

The maximum weight of a set of armor should not exceed 30 catties, otherwise it will seriously affect the flexibility and physical strength of the soldier. It also has to protect many important parts, so its thickness is basically fixed, about two millimeters.

…… To be continued