Iron ore - 09

Iron (US pronunciation: /ˈaɪ.ərn/, with two syllables, and UK pronunciation: /aɪən/, with one) is a chemical element with the symbol Fe (Latin: ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. Like other group 8 elements, it exists in a wide range of oxidation states. Iron and iron alloys (steels) are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in air.
Detailed description
Iron is the most common element in the earth as a whole, and the fourth most common in the Earth's crust. It is produced as a result of stellar fusion in high-mass stars, and it is the heaviest stable element produced by stellar fusion because the fusion of iron is the last nuclear fusion reaction that is exothermic. Iron is the most widely used metal, and iron compounds, which include ferrous and ferric compounds, have several uses as well.
Iron has been used since ancient times, though not as early as bronze or the other copper related alloys. Iron is ubiquitous in modern life; it is used primarily for its structural strength. Pure iron is soft (softer than aluminium), but the material is significantly strengthened by addition of minute amounts of impurities, such as carbon. Alloying iron with appropriate small amounts (up to a few per cent) of other metals and carbon produces steel, which can be 1,000 times harder than pure iron. Iron is smelted in a blast furnace, where ore is reduced by coke to metallic iron..
Elemental iron is reactive; it oxidizes in air to give iron oxides, also known as rust. The rusting of iron and iron alloys is undesirable, and has a major economic impact. Unlike many other metals which form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than iron itself. Thus, iron oxides flake off and expose fresh surfaces for corrosion. Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores.
Iron exists from oxidation state −2 to + 6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. It forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens. Among its organometallic compounds, ferrocene was the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with dioxygen as hemoglobin and myoglobin; these two compounds are common oxygen transport proteins in vertebrates.
Iron is of greatest importance when mixed with certain other metals and with carbon to form steels. There are many types of steels, all with different properties, and an understanding of the properties of the allotropes of iron is key to the manufacture of good quality steels.
Alpha iron, also known as ferrite, is the most stable form of iron at normal temperatures. It is a fairly soft metal that can dissolve only a small concentration of carbon (no more than 0.021% by mass at 910 °C).
Above 912 °C and up to 1400 °C α-iron undergoes a phase transition from bcc to the fcc configuration of γ-iron, also called austenite. This is similarly soft and metallic but can dissolve considerably more carbon (as much as 2.04% by mass at 1146 °C). This form of iron is used in the type of stainless steel used for making cutlery, and hospital and food-service equipment.
Isotopes
Main Isotopes of iron
Naturally occurring iron consists of four stable isotopes: 5.845% of 54Fe, 91.754% of 56Fe, 2.119% of 57Fe and 0.282% of 58Fe. The nuclide 54Fe is predicted to undergo double beta decay, but this process had never been observed experimentally for these nuclei, and only the lower limit on the half-life was established: T1/2>3.1×1022 years. 60Fe is an extinct radionuclide of long half-life (2.6 million years).
Much of the past work on measuring the isotopic composition of Fe has focused on determining Fe variations due to processes accompanying nucleosynthesis (i.e., meteorite studies) and ore formation. In the last decade however, advances in mass spectrometry technology have allowed the detection and quantification of minute, naturally occurring variations in the ratios of the stable isotopes of iron. Much of this work has been driven by the Earth and planetary science communities, although applications to biological and industrial systems are beginning to emerge.
[edit] Blast furnace
Main article: Blast furnace
Ninety percent of all mining of metallic ores is for the extraction of iron[citation needed]. Industrially, iron production involves iron ores, principally hematite (nominally Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) in a carbothermic reaction (reduction with carbon) in a blast furnace at temperatures of about 2000 °C. In a blast furnace, iron ore, carbon in the form of coke, and a flux such as limestone (which is used to remove silicon dioxide impurities in the ore which would otherwise clog the furnace with solid material) are fed into the top of the furnace, while a massive blast of heated air, about 4 tons, per ton of iron,[38] is forced into the furnace at the bottom.
The flux is present to melt impurities in the ore, principally silicon dioxide sand and other silicates. Common fluxes include limestone (principally calcium carbonate) and dolomite (calcium-magnesium carbonate). Other fluxes may be used depending on the impurities that need to be removed from the ore. In the heat of the furnace the limestone flux decomposes to calcium oxide (also known as quicklime):
CaCO3 → CaO + CO2
Then calcium oxide combines with silicon dioxide to form a liquid slag.
CaO + SiO2 → CaSiO3
The slag melts in the heat of the furnace. In the bottom of the furnace, the molten slag floats on top of the denser molten iron, and apertures in the side of the furnace are opened to run off the iron and the slag separately. The iron, once cooled, is called pig iron, while the slag can be used as a material in road construction or to improve mineral-poor soils for agriculture.