Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 17 Steelmaking!

It's easy to take it down.

Originally, Daming had a special place for making weapons.

It is not a big problem to vacate a place for the emperor to make steel.

The second is the construction of the blast furnace.

The crucible steelmaking method refers to the method of melting metal materials in graphite clay crucibles to become molten steel. It cuts carburized iron materials into small pieces and puts them in a closed clay crucible, and heats them outside the crucible. The iron materials continue to absorb the carbon in the graphite. It is melted into high-carbon molten steel, cast into small ingots and then forged into the desired shape.

The crucible method is the first method in human history to produce liquid steel.However, the production volume is extremely small and the cost is high.

Zhu Youxiao is really excited now.

Build your own moving clockwork frog.

"Brother Zhang, just come here, I'll help you!" Zhu Youxiao called a few people behind him: "These are all very skilled blacksmiths, if you need anything, just ask them."

Zhang Haogu saw that these people lowered their heads, and none of them were afraid of neck pain, no matter what, they never dared to raise their heads.

It seemed that they were all instructed by the emperor in advance, and they were ordered not to reveal the identity of the emperor, so they could only do things in silence.

Zhang Haogu looked at the crucible that Zhu Youjian ordered them to make, and he had to say that a lot of thought must have been spent on it, and it was completely made according to his own requirements.

"Get the iron block first."

Zhang Haogu stretched out his hand, thinking that the blacksmiths must be the ones handing him something, but it turned out to be Zhu Youxiao.

As I said just now, Zhang Haogu was going to be attacked.

Seeing his eager expression, he must be extremely looking forward to it.

"Steelmaking is different from other things. It needs to be tempered at high temperature for a long time. If you are accidentally burned, the consequences will be disastrous."

Zhu Youxiao said: "Don't worry, I will be cautious and not act rashly."

"That's fine!" Zhang Haogu shrugged.

This stuff, in fact, is not that dangerous, as long as it doesn't touch molten iron, it's OK.

The blast furnace was lit, and the blacksmiths skillfully fired it up, and the fire in the furnace was burning vigorously.

Zhu Youxiao asked, "Is that all right??"

Zhang Haogu looked at the flames and said: "How is it possible? It takes time to make steel. The temperature is still not enough. If you want to smelt it, you have to reach [-] degrees, [-] degrees or more. Now the heat is not enough, can you I’m actually not very clear about success, I can only say try, at worst, try again if you fail!”

He said to the craftsmen: "You guys will take turns here every day, and you must not let the fire go out, let alone let the temperature drop."

"Do everything possible, no matter what is burned, it must be smelted."

The blacksmiths responded obediently.

"I'm afraid it will take ten days and half a month to burn."

Zhu Youxiao asked in surprise: "It takes so long?"

"I can't grasp the time either. Even if these blacksmiths are proficient, it is the first time they have smelted manganese steel."

Zhang Haogu spread his hands together: "Isn't it the first time to make steel? You can count it in the future. This time it will be fifteen days, next time it will be ten days, eight days, and count slowly!"

The blacksmiths said: "Ordinary smelting only takes half a day, but steelmaking takes at most three to five days, and burning for ten days and a half a month is too long..."

"No, after refining, the crucible will be broken directly, and it can only be used once. If the heat is not enough, the crucible will have to be made again, and the delay will be even longer."

Hearing what Zhang Haogu said was reasonable, Zhu Youxiao ordered the blacksmiths not to make mistakes.

In this way, the blacksmiths worked day and night for half a month.

When Zhang Haogu and Zhu Youxiao came again, they felt the heat wave rushing towards them before they got close.

The blacksmiths were all shirtless, their skin turned red and black, and they were sweating profusely, looking tired and hot.

The hard work of steelmaking can be seen.

"Success or failure is a matter of course. Whether it can be refined depends on whether it has turned into molten iron."

Zhang Haogu asked people to clamp out the crucible and put it in cold water.

After the barking sound, wisps of white smoke rose.

He looked at Zhu Youxiao, who was staring at the crucible with his eyes wide open, full of anticipation, which was self-evident.

Zhang Haogu thought that if this failed, Zhu Youxiao didn't know how he would react.

"Take out the crucible, break it directly, and pour it into an ingot."

The blacksmiths have encountered difficulties, and they can understand what follows, which is nothing more than perfusion.

But how to break the crucible, they had a difficult time.

"Usually, things with an opening are fired, and you just need to pour them out. We have never seen this crucible before. How to pour it, please let me know?"

The techniques used by the blacksmiths in the past were all rigid and conventional, and they were at a loss if they changed a little bit. They could only wait for Zhang Haogu to clarify how to do it before they dared to do it.

"If you talk about steelmaking, you can make steel. It's not that I, Ming Dynasty, can't make steel. It's just that this is the first time I've seen this kind of steelmaking method!"

A slightly younger blacksmith said.

His body, extending from the side of his neck to his shoulders, was scalded to a piece of skin, leaving ugly scalding scars.

It seems that these days of steelmaking have been scalded, so it is no wonder that he is full of resentment and endured it until now.

"The steel I want to smelt requires higher purity in order to have stronger toughness. Now I can only find charcoal to smelt, and the highest temperature for burning is not enough. The crucible must be completely sealed to allow the inside of the crucible to reach a higher temperature. temperature."

"Just like steamed buns, the steamer needs to be covered. After you sealed the blast furnace layer, you sealed another layer with a crucible?"

Another blacksmith got it right: "That's how it is!"

This blacksmith was the master of the young blacksmith just now. As soon as he understood it, he immediately greeted his apprentice and asked him to bow his head and admit his mistake to Zhang Haogu.

Zhang Haogu waved his hand and said no need: "What he said was the trouble caused after the smelting, how to open it is indeed a problem."

"Then what should we do?" Zhu Youxiao also had a difficult time.

Zhang Haogu ordered someone to put the crucible on top of the pouring mold, and he personally stepped forward with a small hammer and iron brazing.

"Let's go ahead, if we are a little careless, if the contents inside splash out, I'm afraid our hands will be useless."

The old blacksmith reached out to Zhang Haogu for a hammer.

"Don't worry, there must be molten iron inside, watch me let him flow into the mold obediently.

Zhang Haogu gritted his teeth, in fact, he didn't understand very well, the things in the textbook were just an introduction to himself, whether he had really practiced before.

It is almost enough to know a general idea.

The textbook is basically a brief introduction.

Details, textbooks will not say.

He also thought about it, this is like cracking an egg, but the egg is a little hot, if it fails, he will definitely be the first to run away.

Zhu Youxiao also became nervous and stopped breathing.

Zhang Haogu thought that he was going to give up if he was not sure, so he struck with the momentum of breaking the boat.

The crucible cracked with a sound, just at the most suitable place.

The crimson molten steel inside flowed out and was poured into the mould.

"After cooling, it will become a steel ingot."

Zhang Haogu breathed a sigh of relief.

(End of this chapter)