Puddling is the process of converting pig iron to bar (wrought) iron in a coal fired reverberatory furnace. It was developed in England during the 1780s. The molten pig iron was stirred in a reverberatory furnace, in an oxidizing environment to burn the carbon, resulting in wrought iron. [1] .

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

In dry puddling, wrought iron is produced from cast iron by decarburization in a reverberatory furnace fi red with coke. The process in-volves constant stirring to achieve the decarburization by oxidation from the air.

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.