Though it was not the first process to produce bar iron without charcoal, puddling was by far the most successful, and replaced the earlier potting and stamping processes, as well as the much older charcoal finery and bloomery processes.

In this paper we examine quantitatively, using modern thermodynamics and kinetics, this ‘wet puddling’ process, aiming to highlight its originality and importance.

The original dry puddling process was replaced beginning in 1830 by wet puddling, which was radically different in terms of the key chemical reactions involved, the thermal behaviour of the melt, the speed

The original dry puddling process was replaced beginning in 1830 by wet puddling, which was radically different in terms of the key chemical reactions involved, the thermal behaviour of the melt, the speed of the process and the quality and consistency of the resulting product.

puddling process, Method of converting pig iron into wrought iron by subjecting it to heat and frequent stirring in a furnace in the presence of oxidizing substances (see oxidation-reduction). Invented by Henry Cort in 1784 (superseding the finery process), it was the first method that allowed wrought iron to be produced on a large scale.