An ironworks or iron works is an
industrial plant where
iron is
smelted and where heavy iron and
steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ironworks is ironworks.
Ironworks succeeded
bloomeries when
blast furnaces replaced former methods. An integrated ironworks in the 19th century usually included one or more blast furnaces and a number of
puddling furnaces or a
foundry with or without other kinds of ironworks. After the invention of the
Bessemer process,
converters became widespread, and the appellation
steelworks replaced ironworks.
The processes carried at ironworks are usually described as ferrous metallurgy, but the term siderurgy is also occasionally used. This is derived from the
Greek words sideros - iron and ergon or ergos - work. This is an unusual term in English, and it is best regarded as an
anglicisation of a term used in
French,
Spanish, and other
Romance languages.
Historically, it is common that a community was built around the ironworks where the people living there were dependent on the ironworks to provide jobs and housing. [1] As the ironworks closed down (or was industrialised) these villages quite often went into decline and experienced negative economic growth. [2]
Ironworks is used as an omnibus term covering works undertaking one or more iron-producing processes.[3] Such processes or species of ironworks where they were undertaken include the following:
Electrolytic smelting — Employs a
chromium/iron
anode that can survive a 2,850 °F (1,570 °C) to produce decarbonized iron and 2/3 of a ton of industrial-quality oxygen per ton of iron. A thin film of metal oxide forms on the anode in the intense heat. The oxide forms a protective layer that prevents excess consumption of the base metal.[4]
Puddling furnaces — a later process for the same purpose, again with
coke as fuel. It was usually necessary for there to be a preliminary refining process in a coke refinery (also called running out furnace). After puddling, the puddled ball needed
shingling and then to be drawn out into
bar iron in a
rolling mill.
The mills operating converters of any type are better called steelworks, ironworks referring to former processes, like
puddling.
Further processing
After bar iron had been produced in a finery forge or in the forge train of a rolling mill, it might undergo further processes in one of the following:
A
slitting mill - which cut a flat bar into rod iron suitable for making into
nails.
A
tinplate works - where rolling mills made sheets of iron (later of
steel), which were coated with
tin.
A
plating forge with a
tilt hammer, a lighter hammer with a rapid stroke rate, enabling the production of thinner iron, suitable for the manufacture of
knives, other
cutlery, and so on.
The notable ironworks of the world are described here by country. See above for the largest producers and the notable ironworks in the alphabetical order.
Kindiba, in
Burkina Faso. Ancient iron extraction site consisting of mines and three clay built furnaces.
Darkhill Ironworks, in the
Forest of Dean,
England. Experimental ironworks established in 1818 and designated an 'Industrial Archaeological Site of International Importance'