The development history of Ductile Iron in China

Ductile Iron was unearthed from the iron smelting sites of the middle and late Western Han Dynasty in Tieshenggou, Gong County, Henan Province. The modern Ductile Iron was not successfully developed abroad until 1947. Cast iron in ancient China had a low silicon content for a long time. In other words, during the Western Han Dynasty about 2,000 years ago, the spheroidal graphite in Chinese ironware had been softened by low-silicon pig iron castings. Obtained by annealing method. This is a major achievement of ductile iron casting technology in ancient China and a miracle in the history of world metallurgy.

In 1981, Chinese ductile iron experts used modern scientific methods to study 513 pieces of ancient Han and Wei ironware unearthed, and concluded from a large amount of data that Ductile Iron appeared in China during the Han Dynasty. The relevant paper was read out at the 18th World Congress on the History of Science and Technology, causing a sensation in the international foundry and science and technology history circles. After verifying this in 1987, international metallurgical history experts concluded that ancient China had figured out the rules of using cast iron softening technology to make Ductile Iron, which was of great significance to the re-staging of world metallurgical history.