The Metal—Iron

Abstract

TO the valuable series of monographs on the alloys of iron, issued by the Engineering Foundation, there has now been added a volume dealing with the production and properties of the parent metal in a state approaching purity. Although iron is used in far larger quantities in industry than any other metal, and is not obtainable commercially in such a pure condition as several other metals, such as aluminium and zinc, our knowledge of its exact properties is still very imperfect. There are two main reasons for this fact. With its high melting point and great chemical activity, iron readily absorbs impurities when in the molten state, which are correspondingly difficult to remove, whilst its properties are exceptionally influenced by the presence of even very small quantities of foreign elements. The properties assigned to ‘pure’ iron in the text-books are mostly derived from commercial materials regarded as approximately pure, or by extrapolation from a series of samples with diminishing amounts of impurity. The results are in either case unsatisfactory.

The Metal—Iron

By H. E. Cleaves J. G. Thompson. (Alloys of Iron Research Monograph Series.) (Published for the Engineering Foundation.) Pp. xii + 574. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1935.) 36s. net