Materials

Wrought Iron

Also Known As Bar Iron

Citation Formats

General Reference

Technology and Engineering Atlas. "Wrought Iron." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://technology.interactiveatlas.org/materials/wrought-iron.

APA Style

Technology and Engineering Atlas. (n.d.). Wrought Iron. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://technology.interactiveatlas.org/materials/wrought-iron

BibTeX

@misc{technologyandengineeringatlas-wrought-iron,
  author = {Technology and Engineering Atlas},
  title = {Wrought Iron},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://technology.interactiveatlas.org/materials/wrought-iron},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Wrought iron is a low-carbon iron alloy, worked while hot and hammered or rolled to squeeze out most of its slag, leaving a fibrous, layered internal structure. Tougher and more ductile than the more brittle cast iron, and easily forge-welded, it was the principal structural and blacksmithing iron from antiquity through the nineteenth century, before the Bessemer and open-hearth processes made mild steel cheaper and displaced it almost entirely.

Facts

Disputed

Origin Year

1200 BCE 1

Bloomery-smelted wrought iron is attested in the Near East and Anatolia from around the twelfth century BCE, marking the start of the Iron Age in the region.

Primary Use

Ornamental ironwork, chains and ships anchors, and, in the nineteenth century, structural beams and boiler plate, valued for toughness, ductility and ease of forge welding, before steel displaced it. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections