RE:Rust

davidtowle@lycosmail.com
Thu, 27 May 1999 13:32:33 -0400 (EDT)

Sorry, but if it was that easy to make iron or steel from rust we wouldn't need all those huge blast furnaces etc. You have to heat up an iron oxide source (rust, iron ore, etc.) in the presence of carbon monoxide to suck the oxygen out of it to make iron. And to make it into the steel you want you have to treat it with the proper combination of many other compounds, then cool it at the proper rate, then heat treat it. The available options in iron/steel metallurgy are wondrously huge.

Dave Towle 87 505 Turbo SW in CT

I have what may be a silly question, sparked by the recent dialog about rust.
I've wondered about this for years, but never been able to do the experiment.
What happens to rusty metal if a torch is taken to it, heated to the melting
point, then cools into what? Okay metal, no longer rusty?
Assuming there is less metal in said spot to begin with BECAUSE of the rust,
can brazing material be added to the heated spot(s) to compensate?
Not have a torch, I don't know the answer, but curious if anyone knows. No
rust on my Peugeot 405, but the Jeep has spots of body cancer.
-Ray S.

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