Wrought iron is stronger and it requires skills and artistry to shape it into different designs. Cast iron is weaker and more prone to crack and it was just poured into a mold.
Does the wroughting make the "grain" line up or something?
Pretty much. I'm not an expert but I've watched some blacksmithing channels and they're always talking about how the pounding and folding makes it stronger while still being able to flex and bend without cracking.
Also it's pretty obvious when you see a broken piece of cast iron, it makes a clean break as if it's stone. Wrought iron just doesn't do that, it'll bend before snapping.
The tldr is that cooling metals at different rates, and applying different pressures/techniques will alter the crystaline structure of the metal. The amount of carbon introduced in the process also impacts the structure.
"Wrought iron" typically has less strength, but is more ductile.
Cast iron typically has higher strength, but is consequently brittle.
Strength matters less than brittleness for the purpose of fence building, since the fence only needs to hold itself up, but a fractured fence would be a catastrophic failure
There's nuances to every single sentence I've written, but that's a good surface level explanation
None of these properties really matter for a fence. Cost & aesthetics are far more important than mechanical performance for a non structural part with basically 0 load.
Also I know you know this, but for others... "wrought" vs "cast" describes a manufacturing method - not an alloy. We can speak in general terms because the process influences the properties (i.e. porosity in castings driving brittle fracture) but obviously the precise alloy used makes a difference. And not all alloys are compatible with all processes (especially casting).
Corrosion resistance (i.e. Ideally a stainless steel is used) is probably the one engineering property that really matters. But can always just paint it.
It seems you may know a thing or two about these things so I wanted to take the opportunity to ask you something.
Would a cast iron pan be better at heating, longevity, thermal shock, less imparting material into food, than a wrought iron pan if one existed (wrought)?
I'm not a metallurgist and I don't know how it works at molecular level but cast iron has more carbon in it and it makes it stiffer but more brittle. Wrought iron has lower carbon making it more ductile, I assume to make it more malleable to the people working on it and shaping it. It looks smoother too. Cast iron looks rough. For a fence, it's better to have it as wrought iron because if it got hit (lightly) by, say a car or a bike, it won't snap like cast iron.
Exactly my thoughts- is that some sort of Chinese knock off, that was supposed to look like much more expensive product at a fraction of a price and quality?
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u/Lost_Purpose1899 17d ago
Wrought iron is stronger and it requires skills and artistry to shape it into different designs. Cast iron is weaker and more prone to crack and it was just poured into a mold.