Wrought iron vs Cast Iron

Well if you are one of those who still think there is no difference between the cast iron and the wrought iron then its time you give your head a little nudge and come out of this illusion. They may look quite similar, but their properties are entirely different.

Wrought iron is the iron that has been heated and then worked with the other tools whereas the cast iron is the iron that has been melted first, poured into a mould and then it is allowed to solidify.  You can find any kind of iron at Berryhill Tulsa as they have a wide variety of iron particularly the wrought iron and the cast iron.

The main difference between both kinds of iron is the way they are produced. You can find the difference only by their names as the ‘wrought’ is the past participle of work and ‘cast’ describes anything that is formed by the casting process.

Wrought iron

The wrought iron is primarily composed of the elemental iron with the small quantity of added slag. It is made by continually heating the material and working on it with the tools to deform it. Moreover, the best thing about wrought iron is that they are highly malleable, which allows it to be heated and reheated and worked into different shapes.

This kind of iron contains less carbon than the cast iron, which makes it more ductile and softer. The main reason why wrought iron is most preferred today is because it is highly resistant to fatigue in case the massive amounts of pressure is applied, it can undergo a huge amount of deformation before falling.

The "wrought iron" term has been misused widely; it is commonly used to explain designs that are similar to historical wrought iron pieces regardless of the metal used. Ornate handrails and iron fence ornaments are one of the most delicate parts that are made of the wrought iron. 

Cast iron

They are referred to the range of iron alloys, but it is widely linked with the grey iron. Despite having the name iron, it is not the pure elemental iron; it is basically an alloy which contains 2%-4% carbon plus a little amount of manganese and silicon as well. Moreover, cast iron has other impurities as well, such as phosphorus and sulphur.

You can form a cast iron by only smelting the iron ore or melting the pig iron and mixing it with the scrap metals and other alloys. The liquid mixture is then poured in the moulds, and then they are allowed to solidify and cool down.

The end result of the cast iron is robust but a little brittle. Due to the higher consistency or carbon content, the cast iron solidifies as assorted allow which means it contains various constituents or materials in the different phases within its microstructure.

The mixture of the microstructure gives cast iron its typical properties. The internal carbon particles develop internal stress points which are conducive to the fracture. This iron is harder and more brittle than the other kinds of iron. The biggest drawback of the cast iron is that it cannot be stretched, bent or hammered into shape, since its weak tensile strength means that it will fracture before it distorts or bends.

The bottom line is if both iron types are compared, the wrought iron is more used and preferred because of its versatility.

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Nicole Lamas Joined: March 19th, 2020