The Production Process of Cast Iron Pan

The production process of cast iron pan

The main steps is making sand mold, melting molten iron, pouring, cooling and forming, desanding and grinding, spraying and baking.

Making sand mold: since it is poured, it needs a mold. Molds are divided into steel molds and sand molds. Steel molds are molds made of steel according to design drawings or samples. They are master molds. Only with master molds can there be sand molds – sand molds are made on steel molds with sand. Sand molds can be made by hand or by equipment automation (called Di sand line). 

Molten iron: the cast iron pot is generally made of gray cast iron in the shape of long strip bread, also known as bread iron. It has different models and properties according to the content of carbon and silicon. The iron block is heated to above 1250 ℃ in a heating furnace and melted into molten iron. Iron melting is a high energy consumption process, which used to burn coal. 

Pouring molten iron: the melted molten iron is transferred to the sand mold through the equipment and poured into the sand mold by the equipment or workers. 

Cooling forming: after pouring the molten iron, let it cool naturally for 20 minutes. This process continues to melt the molten iron and wait for a new sand mold.

Desanding and grinding: after the molten iron is cooled and formed, it enters the desanding equipment through the sand mold of the conveyor belt. The sand and excess leftover materials are removed through vibration and manual treatment, and a blank pot is basically formed. The rough pot needs rough grinding, fine grinding and manual grinding by shot blasting machine to completely remove and grind the sand on its surface, which is relatively flat and smooth. However, the rough edges and places that are not easy to grind can be removed by manual grinding. 

Spray baking: the polished pot enters the spray baking process. The worker sprays a layer of vegetable oil (daily edible vegetable oil) on the surface of the pot, and then enters the oven through the conveyor belt for baking. After a few minutes, a pot is formed. The purpose of spraying vegetable oil on the surface of cast iron pot for baking is to infiltrate the grease into the iron pores and form a black antirust and non stick oil film on the surface. The oil film on the surface is not a coating. It also needs maintenance in the process of use. If used properly, the cast iron pot can be non stick.