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Why was pig iron named after the traditional casting arrangement?
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iron processing
Iron ore is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and one of its primary uses is in the production of steel. When combined with carbon, iron changes character completely and becomes the alloy steel.
Pig iron is named for the traditional casting arrangement used to process molten iron from a blast furnace.
Historically, the molten metal was tapped from the furnace and directed into a main channel, or "sow," which fed into a series of smaller, perpendicular molds. Because this arrangement of a large central channel feeding smaller molds resembled a sow nursing her piglets, the smaller ingots of iron became known as "pigs," and the resulting product was termed pig iron.