Ding, ding, dang!

Ding, ding, dang!

In the Royal Munitions Factory, thousands of craftsmen are struggling to hammer pieces of red-hot wrought iron, and as they beat, the charcoal in the wrought iron is constantly consumed to obtain steel.

This wrought iron is pig iron from the blast furnace, which is then poured into the mixing furnace and heated to a semi-solidified state, and then stirred with willow wood.

As it is stirred, the charcoal in the willow wood merges into the pig iron. After some constant stirring, it becomes wrought iron, and then it is repeatedly forged to obtain steel.

This is the frying method.

This method of frying steel was only mastered by Europeans in the eighteenth century, and this time it was the seventeenth century. Daming's steelmaking technology is indeed a hundred years ahead of Europeans.

It's a hot summer day, and the craftsmen are sweating on the edge of the stove. In terms of efficiency, it is okay, a craftsman can beat more than 50 catties of steel every day. In terms of efficiency in this era alone, it is already the most efficient steel production in the world.

Westerners developed the same method of frying steel a hundred years later, but Europeans used iron rods for stirring, unlike willow like in China, which was burned after mixing and merged into wrought iron, and charcoal was added to the very soft wrought iron to obtain harder steel. Therefore, after the Westerners invented the steel frying method, the technology is still inferior to China. Although this method of frying steel is less technical, before 1870, Europe and the United States used this steel production technology to build 70,000 kilometers of railways.

It's just that this kind of technology, in Zhu Youxiao's eyes, is really too inefficient, and the labor intensity of craftsmen is very high, and the working environment on hot days is extremely bad.

So Zhu Youxiao had a small furnace 1.2 meters high, which could hold 350 kilograms of molten iron and had six air inlets at the same time.

This furnace was built in just three days.

"Your Majesty, is this furnace really used to make steel?" A steelmaker asked in disbelief, and Zhu Youxiao nodded, "Of course." ”

"With all due respect, this stove doesn't use charcoal and coal, there is no fire at all, and there is no way to make steel." The steelmaking master, with years of experience in frying steel, directly asserted.

"It's okay, just try it." Zhu Youxiao smiled and instructed the steelmaking master: "Pour the molten iron into it!" ”

The steelmaker is helpless, the emperor wants to try, then try it! It's just that in his opinion, this is simply a pointless attempt. Can you make steel without any fuel? Just think about it with your brain and know that it's impossible.

Soon the workers poured 350 kilograms of molten iron into this strange little furnace, and the molten iron did not cool, but was very hot, reaching 1,200 degrees Celsius.

"Pull the blast." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and ordered.

The workers immediately pulled up the blower, and the air from the air inlet was blown into the furnace in large quantities, and as the noise of the blower continued to sound, the workers pulled for nearly ten minutes, and there was still no change.

The workers unconsciously slowed down the blower, but at that moment, a spark suddenly erupted from the mouth of the furnace and made a zizzling sound.

Everyone was stunned, this, what's going on?

"Pull! Keep pulling! Zhu Youxiao shouted happily, and the workers immediately came to the energetic and pulled this huge powerful blast hard, and a large amount of air continued to blow into the furnace, and the reaction in the furnace became more and more intense.

Bang bang! The sound kept coming, and the whole furnace seemed to explode, and sparks erupted like a volcano.

"Ahh

One worker was so frightened that he collapsed directly to the ground. The steelmaking master who was watching from the side ran up at this time and pulled the blast together.

The temperature in the furnace continues to rise, and the oxygen in the air and some of the iron combine to produce "iron oxide". Iron oxide oxidizes silicon and manganese, and the resulting substance forms slag together with iron oxide. Iron oxide is also combined with carbonaceous to produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas.

This is the oxidation method, to put it bluntly, it is the same principle as burning charcoal, when the charcoal is not hot, blowing wind into it will become hot, because oxygen accelerates the oxidation of charcoal, thus producing high temperatures.

Pig iron can also be oxidized, the temperature of molten iron is 1200 degrees, and after a large amount of air is blown in, the temperature rises to 1600 degrees, and then produces a violent reaction, and does not require any fuel.

Finally, the violent reaction stopped.

"Pour the furnace." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and ordered expectantly. I saw that the furnace turned on its side, and a furnace of molten steel was poured directly out of the furnace.

"This, this is molten steel?" The steelmaking master was surprised, and Zhu Youxiao was also ecstatic, he knew that steel could be obtained after the oxidation of molten iron, but he didn't expect it to be so smooth.

This is the converter steelmaking method, and the reason why this kind of furnace is called converter is because the furnace can rotate and pour out the molten steel.

The converter steelmaking method is actually a simple technology, as long as the air is blown in, the molten iron will naturally undergo a violent oxidation reaction.

Ha ha! It's going against the rhythm of the sky!

Zhu Youxiao was in ecstasy, and hurriedly asked the craftsman to take the molten steel to cast.

However, what happened next made Zhu Youxiao pour cold water on his head. I saw that when these molten steels were hot forged, the steel was brittle. Finally, when it cooled, when it was cold-forged, it was still brittle.

"Your Majesty, this steel ...... The quality is too poor to be used. The craftsmen said cautiously. Zhu Youxiao waved his hand helplessly, obviously there was a problem with iron ore.

If the hot forging is too brittle, the sulfur content is too high. If the cold forging is too brittle, the phosphorus content is too high, and dephosphorization and desulfurization are still a problem.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao had already lost a large number of brain cells, and he still had a headache about desulfurization and phosphorus removal.

Converter steelmaking is indeed simple, but the requirements for iron ore are relatively high. In this primary converter, the "fuel" in the pig iron is burned in vain during the oxidation of the pig iron, and it is not used. The open-hearth steelmaking method that came later made use of the wasted heat, and the requirements for the quality of iron ore were greatly reduced.

It's just that Zhu You's proofreading of the open-hearth furnace structure is dark, and it is not too much of a problem if you really want to design it, but it will take a long time, and obviously he, as the emperor, does not have so much time to spend on technology research and development.

Zhu Youxiao, who hadn't returned to the palace for more than half a month, went back to the palace disheartened. Iron-making and steel-making depend on whether Xu Guangqi can find high-quality iron ore and low-sulfur coking coal.

If you can't find it, then find a way to study converter dephosphorization, desulfurization technology, or open hearth steelmaking technology.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Youxiao received a report from Li Jinzhong, and the rumors in the market outside had intensified. One of the rumors made Zhu Youxiao cry and laugh, and there were a lot of rumors in the market that the emperor was addicted to blacksmith work and ran outside the city every day to strike iron. The title of Blacksmith Emperor has begun to spread.

Blacksmith Emperor?

Zhu Youxiao suddenly had a feeling of ridicule, isn't he the carpenter emperor? Now he's a blacksmith! It seems that history can still be changed!

Facing the Donglin Party jumping up and down, Zhu Youxiao felt that it was time to rectify it.