Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
190d3fcc-d2a7-4465-bbac-6576e99f68ba
Materials
Associated ID
aeaaec79-556c-40d4-bae9-97c0c6702da6
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
The product represented by this dataset is cast iron, a fundamental material in the ferrous casting industry. Its characteristics are a high carbon equivalent, with good castability, machinability, vibration damping, and wear resistance. Its upstream key raw materials are pig iron smelted in blast furnaces and recovered scrap steel, and downstream it is mainly used in various foundries to produce automotive engine blocks, machine tool beds, pipes, municipal manhole covers, and other mechanical parts and engineering structural components. The system boundary of this dataset covers the entire process from the entry of metal charge materials such as pig iron and scrap steel into the casting and melting workshop, through batching, melting, molten iron treatment, casting, and cooling and cleaning, until the output of qualified cast iron products (ingots or parts). The dataset includes the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy, and waste in the production process; infrastructure such as the manufacturing of production equipment and the construction of plants is not included within the dataset boundary. The data inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources.
Activity Description
This dataset covers the entire process in which pig iron and steel scrap, as the primary metallic raw materials, are melted, composition-adjusted to produce qualified molten iron, and then cast into iron castings. The main inputs include pig iron, steel scrap, carburizers, slag-forming agents (e.g., limestone and fluorite), and electricity; the main outputs are iron ingots or castings, as well as solid wastes such as slag and dust, and flue gases. The major process units, in sequence, are: pretreatment and batching of furnace burdens; melting in an induction furnace to obtain high-temperature molten iron; rapid on-site composition analysis of the molten iron and adjustment to the target range (via inoculation treatment or alloying); casting of the qualified molten iron; and cooling, shakeout, cleaning, and, if required, heat treatment of the castings.
Process Description
Cast iron is an iron-carbon alloy product made from pig iron and scrap steel (average 45%) as the main raw materials. It is cast and formed after remelting and adjusting the composition. Its carbon content (C) is usually greater than 2.0%. Its main components are iron (Fe), carbon (C), silicon (Si), manganese (Mn), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), etc. Depending on the brand, the content of each element has corresponding standards. The product is in the form of iron ingots or directly formed castings. It is mainly distinguished based on its mechanical properties (such as tensile strength, hardness) and casting properties (such as fluidity, shrinkage). It is widely used in various mechanical parts and engineering structural parts such as automobile engine blocks, machine tool beds, pipes, and municipal manhole covers.
Time period
2023
2026
Geography
China
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The core technologies of the production process are casting, smelting and molten iron treatment processes. The detailed description of the process unit is as follows: The mainstream smelting equipment is a medium frequency induction furnace. The medium frequency induction furnace uses the principle of electromagnetic induction to heat and melt the metal charge itself. It has precise temperature control, uniform composition, and is environmentally friendly, but consumes a lot of power. The smelted molten iron needs to undergo rapid spectral analysis in front of the furnace, and inoculants such as ferrosilicon are added according to the target grade for inoculation treatment, or other alloys are added for alloying to accurately control its graphite morphology and matrix structure to obtain the required mechanical properties. The processed molten iron is transported to the pouring station at a specified superheat temperature, injected into a pre-prepared sand mold or metal mold, and solidified and cooled to form a casting. Clean smelting technology represented by electric furnaces is becoming the mainstream direction of the current transformation and upgrading of the foundry industry. This data set is represented by this mainstream technology.