MANUFACTURING INDUST5RY AND THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

The Rise of Manufacturing Industry

Man’s universal demand for food, clothing, shelter and other comforts of life prompted the creation
of many new things. This was the beginning of the industrial revolution of the early eighteenth
century. This ushered in the age of science and technology forcing village workshops out of
business because factories were established in their place. The figure below shows the chief
manufacturing regions of the world.

Industry is any economic activity which creates jobs and generates income. A manufacturing
industry is an industry where raw materials are transformed into new products.
There are four main types of industry:
 Primary sector
 Secondary sector
 Tertiary sector
 Quaternary sector
Primary industry involves the production or extraction of raw materials and includes forestry,
farming, fishing and mining.
Secondary industry is the manufacturing of goods. For example, the north west of England used
to have a thriving textile industry making cloth from cotton, China has a thriving manufacturing
sector producing electronics, and Germany is one of the largest manufacturer of cars.
Tertiary industry involves providing services to people, for example a cleaner or a doctor or a
teacher.
Quaternary industry is the newest sector and focuses on knowledge-based industries or high-
tech industries such as ICT (information and communication technologies) and research and
development.

Group of Industries
The range and complexity of modern manufacturing industries are so great that it is not easy to
classify them but most of them fall into the following.
1. Iron and steel industry.
 It forms the basis of all ferrous metallurgical industries.
 The most important of all industries known
 Without steel bars, blooms, billets, slabs and wires supplied, other industries won’t
survive
2. Fuel and power industry
 Deals entirely with the generation, extraction or refining of various sources of
power (steam, HEP, thermal, petrol and oil), natural gas and nuclear power
included.
 3. Mineral extracting industry
 Includes the concentration, smelting and alloying of minerals and the smelting of
non-ferrous metals, e.g. copper, tin, aluminum, lead, zinc and their alloyed metals
such as brass and bronze.
4. Metallurgical industry
 Refers to machinery, instruments, equipment and tools that are manufactured from
metals.
 Includes iron and steelworks, mechanical and electrical engineering, shipbuilding,
automobiles, aircraft and cutlery.
5. Chemicals industry
 Production and development of a chain of scientifically devised materials of a
highly specialized nature and is found in most of the industries.
 Products include acids, alkalis, gases, dye, detergents, fertilisers, glass, paper, etc.
6. Textiles
 One of the oldest and most widespread industries.
 It is the spinning and weaving of textile materials from cotton, wool, flax (linen),
silk, jute, hemp and hairs.
7. Food and processing industry
 This is the preparation of foodstuffs for human consumption from both animal and
vegetative sources.
 Includes flour, milling, oil milling, sugar refining, meat packing, brewing,
confectionery, canning, bottling, preservation and preparation of foods like fish,
fruits, spices, etc.
8. Rest of the consumer goods industries
 This loosely covers all the rest of the manufactured goods consumed or used by
man.
 They include footwear, furniture, pottery and porcelain, printing, cement, toys,
cosmetics, jewelry and other luxury goods.
Factors Influencing Industrial Location
1. Raw materials
 Raw materials are the basic requirement of any manufacturing industry.
 Areas where raw materials are available attract more industries.
 Raw materials such as timber and minerals attract industries close to their source.
 This reduces heavy costs of transporting raw materials.
 Perishable products need to be processed near their source.
 This allows for fast processing of these products and cuts on costs of transporting
them.
2. Availability of power
 Industries are located in areas where there is cheap and abundant power supply.
 Power is required for a number of operations in an industry
 Areas where electricity is generated or easily accessible attract many industries.
 3. Availability of labour
 Industries require both skilled and semi-skilled labour to operate.
 Labour is a form of human resource that influences location of industries.
 Areas with potential labour influences location of industries.
 Some industries are intensive and may suffer if there is no one to work for them.
4. Availability of well developed transport networks
 Roads, railways and other infrastructure influences the location of industries.
 Areas which are developed in terms of infrastructure attract more investors than
areas with undeveloped infrastructural systems.
Other factors like market, communication, water supply, government policy and capital also
greatly influence location of industries.
The Iron Ore
1. Magnetite
 It is the richest metallic iron content (70%) with high magnetic qualities, excellent
for electrical industry.
 It is mainly from igneous rocks and black in colour.
2. Haematite
 Another high grade iron ore with a metallic content of 50 – 65 %.
 It is mainly from sedimentary sources and reddish in appearance.
3. Limonite
 This is the commonest of the commercially workable iron ores.
 Its metallic content is less than 50%.
 It is heavily charged with impurities.
 It is brown in colour and is formed by decomposition of other iron bearing minerals.
 It is sometimes called ‘bog iron’ as it occurs in lakes and swamps.
4. Siderite
 A low grade with metallic content between 20 – 30%.
 It is a residual ore deposited as a sediment when other rock materials
The Properties of Iron and Steel
Iron and steel, which form the basis of ferrous metallurgical industries, are the greatest importance
in modern industry because of very extensive application. There important properties include:
1. Great strength and toughness. Iron and steel are indispensable in modern constructional
and mechanical engineering industries because they are so strong.
2. Great elasticity. Steel can withstand great stress and strain without appreciable distortion
and is excellent for making machines and transporting vehicles.
3. High ductility. Steel can be drawn into bars, tubes, wires or plates without snapping. It is
thus very useful for making machine parts and tools.
 4. Cheap metal. It is because iron is so common that steel is so cheap.
5. Ease of production. Iron ore when processed with coke and limestone in blast furnaces can
easily be made into steel of many different qualities.
6. Alloyability. Iron when alloyed with other ferro-metals gives rise to a wide range of steel
which is suitable for a variety of industrial purposes.
Making of Different Types of Iron and Steel
• The essential ingredients for manufacture of iron and steel are iron ore, coke and limestone.
• They are smelted in a blast furnace at a temperature of over 1650°C
• The oxygen in the ore and the carbon in the coke combine to form a gas (oxide of carbon)
while the impurities in the ore combine with the limestone to form slag
• The molten iron is then drawn from the furnace base to solidify as pig iron which has 3-
4% carbon content.
From pig iron, the following iron products are obtained:
a) Cast iron- is made by re-smelting the pig iron with steel scrap and then pouring the heated
material into sand or metal mounds.
• It contains impurities and is brittle
• Cast iron can refer to a range of iron alloys, but it is most commonly associated with gray
iron.
• Despite having the name iron, it isn’t pure elemental iron—it’s actually an alloy containing
2–4 percent carbon, plus small amounts of silicon and manganese.
• Other impurities, such as sulfur and phosphorus, are also common.
• Cast iron is formed by smelting iron ore, or melting pig and mixing it with scrap metals
and other alloys.
• The liquid mixture is then poured into molds and allowed to cool and solidify.
• Cast iron is very brittle in nature, meaning it’s comparatively hard and non-malleable
b) Wrought iron – is made by re-smelting pig iron and removing impurities and carbon by
puddling process
• It is then reheated and worked with tools- thus wrought iron
• It is strong and tough and resists rust
• It is expensive and used for making ornamental gates and fences
• Wrought iron is composed primarily of elemental iron with small amounts (1–2 percent)
of added slag (the by-product of iron ore smelting, generally consisting of a mixture of
silicon, sulfur, phosphorous, and aluminum oxides).
• Wrought iron is made by repeatedly heating the material and working it with tools to
deform it.
• Wrought iron is highly malleable, allowing it to be heated, and re-heated, and worked into
various shapes—wrought iron grows stronger the more it’s worked and is characterized by
its fibrous appearance.
• Wrought iron contains less carbon than cast iron, making it softer and more ductile.
 • It is also highly resistant to fatigue; if large amounts of pressure are applied, it will undergo
a large amount of deformation before failing.
• The term “wrought iron” is often misused today; it is commonly used to describe designs
similar to historical wrought iron pieces—regardless of the metal used.
• Mild steel that has been machine-bent into shape in a cold state or cast steel and iron pieces
that have been painted black are both regularly mislabelled as wrought iron work.
• To be truly designated as wrought iron, however, a metal piece must be forged by a
blacksmith who heats it and hammers it into shape.

c) Steel – is made by reheating pig iron in converters to remove the impurities and adding in
controlled amounts of carbon and ferro-alloys e.g manganese, nickel, cobalt, tungsten.

Key steps of the process are as follows:

 upper part of the furnace - free moisture is driven off from the burden materials and
hydrates and carbonates are disassociated.
 lower part of the blast furnace shaft - indirect reduction of the iron oxides by carbon
monoxide and hydrogen occurs at 700-1,000°C.
  Bosh area of the furnace where the burden starts to soften and melt - direct reduction of
the iron [and other] oxides and carbonization by the coke occurs at 1,000-1,600°C. Molten
iron and slag start to drip through to the bottom of the furnace [the hearth].
Between the bosh and the hearth are the tuyeres [water cooled copper nozzles] through which
the blast - combustion air, preheated to 900-1,300°C, often enriched with oxygen - is blown
into the furnace. Immediately in front of the tuyeres is the combustion zone, the hottest part of
the furnace, 1,850-2,200°C, where coke reacts with the oxygen and steam in the blast to form
carbon monoxide and hydrogen [as well as heat] and the iron and slag melt completely.
Molten iron and slag collect in the furnace hearth. Being less dense, the slag floats on top of
the iron. Slag and iron are tapped at regular intervals through separate tap holes. For merchant
pig iron production, the iron is cast into ingots; in integrated steel mills, the molten iron or hot
metal is transferred in torpedo ladle cars to the steel converters. Slag is transferred to slag pits
for further processing into usable materials, for example raw material for cement production,
road construction, etc
Major Iron and Steel Areas Of The World
• CHINA
• INDIA
• USA
• RUSSIA
• JAPAN
• GREMANY
• UKRAINE