Quicklime was not available for the time being, so Wang Yuan got some limestone and some glass beads from a jewelry store.
First, put the pig iron and fried steel into the crucible, then place some glass beads and send them into the furnace for heating. The improved steel-making furnace is no longer a traditional square furnace because the furnace temperature of that thing is too low.
The craftsmen kept blowing the wind, and after about three hours, Wang Yuan ordered the furnace to be turned on.
It was already early February, and the ironworks had already resumed normal operations. Other smelting workers were busy working. Even when Wang Yuan announced that the furnace would be opened, no one came over to see what was strange.
What's there to see?
There were too many failures, and everyone obviously lost their fresh energy.
"Sir, the governor is making steel again today, don't you go and take a look?" the servant asked Wang Lu.
"Let's see," Wang Lu said with a headache, "I'm worried that if I can't make any steel, the governor will eventually get angry and turn on me."
The servant said: "That's not the case."
Wang Lu sneered and said: "Every official is so stingy. The governor didn't know where he heard the method. He insisted on trying it, but he still hasn't given up even after two months. At first, he talked about square furnace refining.
If steel cannot be made, the square furnace must be changed into something ugly. A few days ago, it was more interesting. I got a bunch of thrush stones, which are used for women to draw eyebrows. Isn’t it crazy to use them to make steel? "
The servants couldn't help but laugh: "Maybe the governor mistook the stove for a woman and wanted to get some teff stones to please her."
Although Wang Lu was extremely reluctant, he took a sedan chair from home to the iron factory and happened to see Wang Yuan ordering the craftsmen to open the furnace. He did not dare to say hello for fear that if he failed again this time, the governor would lose his temper when caught.
After the steel-making furnace was opened, a craftsman used tongs to take out the crucible, and immediately exclaimed: "It has been made into water!"
The craftsman in charge of opening the furnace asked confusedly: "Molten iron?"
Wang Yuan was overjoyed and ordered: "It's molten steel. Pour it into the mold quickly!"
Molten steel?
Wang Lu was surprised and suspicious. When he took a closer look, he saw that the pig iron and fried steel in the crucible had been refined. But was it really molten steel? I'm afraid it was molten iron!
Without waiting for the molten steel to cool down, Wang Yuan started making steel again.
This time, fewer glass beads were put in, and the refining time was the same. At the same time, he said to Wang Lu: "Friend Wang, call someone here immediately to build nine more similar steel-making furnaces. I want to compare again and again."
test!"
"Ah? Ah, okay!" Wang Lu called someone immediately.
The second furnace of steel has been smelted, but the molten steel in the first furnace has not yet cooled and solidified. All the craftsmen in the ironworks who could leave their posts gathered around to watch the excitement.
"Is it really molten steel?"
"Where can there be molten steel in this world? It must be molten iron!"
"Why is there no molten steel? When you fry steel, you can sometimes get good steel. What is that if it's not molten steel?"
"But the Governor didn't fry it either. He just used some teff stone, mixed it with clay to make a jar, put it in pig iron and bad steel and threw it into the furnace to refine it."
"Wait a little longer and see what comes out of the condensation."
"..."
The few disciples Wang Yuan brought here knew nothing about steelmaking. However, they had no preconceptions and blindly believed in Wang Yuan's methods. On the contrary, they were more sure of making molten steel than those craftsmen.
Wang Lu said nothing and was waiting patiently.
His ancestors had been iron smelting craftsmen since the Yuan Dynasty. Thanks to the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, the life of a blacksmith was much easier than that of other craftsmen.
Guarding the largest iron mine in Zhejiang, Wang Lu's ancestors made money by making farm tools. Because they were very good at craftsmanship, they gradually accumulated savings and began to build their own furnaces to smelt iron. In my grandfather's generation, there was smoke from the ancestral graves at home, and my uncle passed the imperial examination.
After becoming an official, Wang Lu's iron factory also grew in size.
Now, although Wang Lu is still a craftsman, he has long stopped doing corvee service. Even if it is his turn to serve, he will just spend money to do it. If the government is not accommodating, he can hire other craftsmen to do the work for him.
Wang Lu thought more than those ordinary craftsmen. The governor put inferior steel in the crucible.
Refining bad steel into water is something that has never happened before. I'm afraid that furnace is really molten steel!
The molten steel was poured into the mold and gradually solidified into steel blocks. Without waiting for the steel blocks to cool down, Wang Lu personally took out a piece and beat it into thin steel sheets.
After a while, the steel piece cooled completely. Wang Lu smashed it with a hammer and observed the fracture carefully.
"How?" Wang Yuan asked with a smile.
Wang Lu stared at the fracture for a while, then suddenly rubbed his eyes hard, fearing that he was deceived. After repeated confirmations, he said with a dry mouth: "It's steel, and it's better than the steel made by the steel pouring method!"
"Is it really steel?" The craftsmen all came to their heads.
Soon, no one spoke, they all stared at the broken hole in a daze.
The steel produced this time is medium carbon steel, the fracture deformation is not obvious, and the crystal particles at the fracture are very fine. Experienced blacksmiths and blacksmiths can recognize it at a glance. This thing is a piece of good steel!
There is no need for pouring steel or repeated tempering, just put pig iron and fried steel into the furnace and burn it, and you can make good steel in two or three hours?
While Wang Lu was ruined, he was also frightened by the huge profits. But the inventor was a governor, and even if he already knew how to make steel, let alone asking for the secret of steelmaking, Wang Lu would not dare to imitate it without authorization.
Wang Lu tentatively said: "President Wang, I..."
"Don't talk yet," Wang Yuan interrupted, "wait until I do a few more sets of comparative tests."
For the next two months, Wang Yuan worked at the furnace to make steel. After the scale was expanded, ten steel-making furnaces were working at the same time.
He first used glass beads as a flux, not only trying various weights, but also the sizes of the glass beads. Because quicklime was difficult to find, he then used limestone as a flux, and also tried different weights and particle sizes.
Then, try various things such as fluorite, dolomite, quartz sand, etc. one by one to observe the fluxing effect of these ores.
Finally, these fluxes were preheated for different lengths of time, and then thrown in to observe the effect. Different fluxes were also used for proportioning, and the fluxing formulas were manually adjusted. Some formulas were useless, and some formulas were better than a single flux.
Better results.
Several disciples brought by Wang Yuan came in handy at this time and were responsible for recording the data of each comparison test.
The flux finally made by Wang Yuan even has certain desulfurization and dephosphorization effects.
"Good steel, good steel, it's not inferior to hundreds of refined steel!" Wang Lu exclaimed as he held the latest batch of steel blocks in his hands.
Wang Yuan was happy and helpless. The secret fluxing recipe he devised was difficult to promote in other regions because the composition of iron ore in different places was different. Without the ability to test the composition of the iron ore, Wang Yuan could only do this
Try again and again, just like Edison invented the electric light and tried countless filament materials.
Whether it is pig iron or fried steel, the raw materials are all refined from local iron ores.
The iron ore here contains about 22% iron and about 7.5% iron oxide. The impurities are mainly selenium dioxide (about 32%) and about 5% alumina. As for harmful components, the sulfur content is as high as 1.1%.
Phosphorus content is approximately 0.08%.
The fluxing formula that Wang Yuan tried over and over again is matched with the iron produced from this kind of iron ore. It may not be as effective if it is replaced by another iron ore. Of course, it will definitely work.
"Friend Wang, I want to buy your iron factory." Wang Yuan suddenly said.
Wang Lu bit the bullet and said, "I dare not not sell it."
This was an interesting answer. Wang Yuan couldn't help but laugh and said: "Then let's form a partnership. I'll leave you 10% of the shares. How much should I pay?"
Wang Lu said happily: "There is no need for the governor to pay, the governor only needs to provide the formula!"
"Then I will just invest five hundred taels of silver and hold 90% of the shares." Wang Yuan said.
"Thank you very much, Governor!" Wang Lu immediately knelt down and kowtowed.
In ancient times, no contracts were involved. Officials had the final say. For example, as an official, Wang Yuan could not do business on his own, so his shares could be placed in anyone's name.
The nominal boss of Tianjin Weaving Factory is Wang Yuan’s butler Zhou Chong. But Zhou Chong has no access to money at all, and Zhou Chong himself is a slave of the Wang family. Even if Wang Yuan dies one day, the weaving factory will remain intact.
Fufu was inherited by Wang Yuan's son.
As long as Wang Yuan does not lose power, 90% of the shares in the iron factory in Shaoxing must belong to him even if he does not establish any written documents. Once Wang Yuan loses power, even if he has written documents, he will be targeted by other powerful people because of the huge profits.
.
The official position is very bad, but the general environment is like this.
The emperor sent eunuchs to do business, and officials sent domestic slaves to do business, which had long destroyed Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system.
Wang Yuan and Wang Lu casually signed a contract, and Wang Chan (maid Xia Chan) owned 90% of the shares in the iron factory, while the remaining 10% belonged to Wang Lu.