What is "reduced iron"

Iron \I"ron\ ([imac]"[u^]rn), n. [OE. iren, AS. [=i]ren, [=i]sen, [=i]sern; akin to D. ijzer, OS. [=i]sarn, OHG. [=i]sarn, [=i]san, G. eisen, Icel. [=i]sarn, j[=a]rn, Sw. & Dan. jern, and perh. to E. ice; cf. Ir. iarann, W. haiarn, Armor. houarn.]

1. (Chem.) The most common and most useful metallic element, being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears dark brown, from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or on a fresh surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily oxidized (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic number 26, atomic weight 55.847. Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is superior to all other substances.

   Note: The value of iron is largely due to the facility with which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and generating furnace).

2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.

   My young soldier, put up your iron.
   --Shak.

3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.

   Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.
   --Macaulay.

4. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with a rod of iron.

5. (Golf) An iron-headed club with a deep face, chiefly used in making approaches, lifting a ball over hazards, etc.

   Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below).

   Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog.

   Cast iron (Metal.), an impure variety of iron, containing from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary.

   Fire irons. See under Fire, n.

   Gray irons. See under Fire, n.

   Gray iron. See Cast iron (above).

   It irons (Naut.), said of a sailing vessel, when, in tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill away on either tack.

   Magnetic iron. See Magnetite.

   Malleable iron (Metal.), iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable.

   Meteoric iron (Chem.), iron forming a large, and often the chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a small amount of nickel and cobalt. Cf. Meteorite.

   Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast furnace, being run into molds, called pigs.

   Reduced iron. See under Reduced.

   Specular iron. See Hematite.

   Too many irons in the fire, too many objects or tasks requiring the attention at once.

   White iron. See Cast iron (above).

   Wrought iron (Metal.), the purest form of iron commonly known in the arts, containing only about half of one per cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore, as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed into bars, it is called bar iron.

Reduce \Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).] [L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to lead. See Duke, and cf. Redoubt, n.]

1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.

   And to his brother's house reduced his wife.
   --Chapman.

   The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us.
   --Evelyn.

2. To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat. ``An ancient but reduced family.''
   --Sir W. Scott.

   Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it.
   --Tillotson.

   Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their fears.
   --Milton.

   Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
   --Hawthorne.

3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.

4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.

   It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust.
   --Milton.

5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to reduce language to rules.

6. (Arith.)

   1. To change, as numbers, from one denomination into another without altering their value, or from one denomination into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or minutes to days and hours.

   2. To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.

7. (Chem.) To add an electron to an atom or ion. Specifically: To remove oxygen from; to deoxidize. (Metallurgy) To bring to the metallic state by separating from combined oxygen and impurities; as, metals are reduced from their ores. (Chem.) To combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen or any other reducing agent; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; aldehydes can be reduced to alcohols by lithium hydride; -- opposed to oxidize.

8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.

   Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used the product is called also iron by hydrogen.

   To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the other side, without destroying the equation.

   To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form.

   To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column from the square.

   Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.