Basic Pig Iron

the primary alloy of iron. Basic pig iron is smelted in a blast furnace and transferred in liquid or solid form for conversion—mainly in open-hearth furnaces or oxygen converters—into steel. Compared with other types of metals that are smelted in blast furnaces, for example, foundry and specular pig irons, ferrosilicon, and ferromanganese, basic pig iron has low silicon and manganese content—not more than 1.75 percent of each. The range of proportions of silicon, manganese, and sulfur is narrower in basic pig iron for conversion in an oxygen converter than in other types of basic pig iron. High-grade basic pig iron, which contains 0.020–0.060 percent phosphorus and 0.015–0.025 percent sulfur, is also produced.

Basic pig iron is the major product of blast furnaces, and in 1970 its production was approximately 90 percent of the entire production of pig irons in general.