THAI LOCAL NAM PHI IRON ORE AND FURNACE SMELTING COMBINED WITH SUSTAINED ANCIENT METHOD

Abstract

This research was about the development of the furnace for Nam Phi iron ore. The modern smelting technique was applied to the local smelting workshop by combining the ancient and modern approaches to develop the furnace. In the design phase, the furnace lining material and air pressure control were developed for the higher efficient furnace. The smelting provided 2.3 kilograms of molten Nam Phi iron per furnace that also had the equal efficiency compared with current general furnaces then divided the molten iron for testing into two groups (A, B). Group A iron was tested for the chemical composition and found that there was an iron (Fe) in amount of 99.5 wt% with other elements that made the Nam Phi iron became the high quality metal such as Carbon (C) in amount of 0.0311 wt%, Silicon (Si) in amount of 0.0353 wt%, and Nickel (Ni) in amount of 0.0292 wt% that conformed to the research of Mr. Anuwat Jutilaptaworn .2010, Singhadech Tangjuang .2006, and Mr. Adul  Phuk-in .2014 while Group B iron was tested the Vickers Hardness test : HV and the result was found that the Vickers Hardness : HV value before and after the attribute addition by Heat-treatment were 105.67 HV and 771 HV respectively. This could be concluded that molten Nam Phi iron from mixed furnace smelting was able to add the metallurgy properties. Comparing the cost of creating mixed Nam Phi iron furnace with the cost of creating the furnace that the local used, the cost was 14,916.45 Baht and 23,265 Baht respectively. The developed furnace could save the cost for of 8,348.55 baht or 35.88% according to this research objective.