In this article, we discussed about the differences between the cast iron, wrought iron, mild steel, and hard steel respectively.
Mainly, for civil engineers, it is necessary to know the difference between these irons and steel so that they have good ideas and knowledge about where to use it and where not.
| 1. Cast iron (C.I) | 2. Wrought iron (W.I) | 3. Mild steel (M.S) | 4. Hard steel (H.S) |
| 2.5% of C | 0 to 0.25% of C | 0.08 to 0.35%of C | 0.55 to 1.3% of C |
| Sp. Gravity-7.5 | Sp. Gravity-7.25 | Sp. Gravity-7.8 | Sp. Gravity-7.9 |
| Does not rust easily | Rust more easily than C.I | Rust readily | Rust rapidly |
| Melting point- 1200ºC | Melting point-1530ºC | Melting point-1400ºC | Melting point-1300ºC |
| Neither malleable nor ductile | Very malleable and ductile | Malleable and ductile | Brittle and less ductile than M.S |
| Crystalline coarse granular structure | Fibrous structure of bluish color | Bright fibrous structure | Fine granular structure |
| Hard and brittle | Tough and more elastic than C.I | Tough and more elastic than W.I | Tough and more elastic than M.S |
| Cannot be magnetized | Can be temporarily magnetized | Can be permanently magnetized | Can be permanently magnetized |
| Cannot absorb shock. | Can stand certain and excessive shock | Can absorb shocks. | Can absorb shocks. |
| Tensile strength is fair and compressive strength good. | Tensile strength better and compressive strength not so good. | Tensile strength better than C.I and W.I but compressive strength better than W.I but less than C.I | Both Tensile strength and compressive strength is better than rest of the three. |
| Becomes soft in salty water. | Resist salty water than C.I | Not much effected by salty water | Not much effected by salty water |
| Used for water pipe, electric pole etc. | Corrugated sheets, Carin hooks, core of electromagnet etc. | Used in all kinds of structural member and bridges and building works, channel section | Used in cutting tools, pre-stressed concrete. |
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