Pig Iron

Category: infrastructure

The immediate molten output of a blast furnace containing a very high carbon content, serving as the raw precursor for steelmaking.

Pig iron typically contains 3.5% to 4.5% carbon, along with varying levels of silicon, manganese, and phosphorus. This high carbon concentration makes the metal incredibly brittle and unforgeable in its raw state. Pig iron must be transported immediately in liquid form via insulated torpedo cars to a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) to burn off excess carbon and transform it into structural steel.

Common Examples

• The hot metal operator routed forty tons of liquid pig iron directly to the basic oxygen furnace for high-speed decarburization.
• Our pricing matrix database tracks global pig iron futures to dynamically calculate the material surcharge rates for our casting runs.