Pig Iron
Pig iron is the basic metallic material created from iron ore through a smelting process within a blast furnace. It is distinguished by its extremely high carbon content, typically 3.5-4.5%, making it very brittle.
The key difference between pig iron and crude steel is refinement. Crude steel is produced by further refining pig iron—often in a basic oxygen furnace—or by melting scrap steel, to significantly reduce the carbon content. While pig iron serves as a primary raw material for steelmaking, crude steel is the first form of usable steel, cast into semi-finished products for further processing.