Iron vs Cast Iron
Iron and Cast iron show lot of differences between them in terms of their properties and nature. Cast iron usually refers to grey iron. Cast iron is primarily of two types, namely, white cast iron and grey cast iron. White cast iron is so named because of the fact that its surface is white when fractured. On the other hand grey cast iron is named after its grey fractured structure.
Iron on the other hand is the most common metal available in the pure form in the inner and the outer core of the planet Earth. It is also regarded as the fourth abundant metal available in the Earth’s crust.
One of the primary differences between iron and cast iron is that iron is in the pure form whereas cast iron is an alloyed iron. It is alloyed with elements such as silicon and carbon. This is the reason why iron crystals are soft and cast iron crystals are brittle.
Since cast iron is alloyed with some other element, the properties of the alloyed metal get attached to the iron too and hence the properties of cast iron are inconsistent. On the hand the properties of iron are consistent because of the fact that it is one single pure metal.
The metal of iron undergoes the process of oxidization when exposed to air. On the other hand the alloyed cast iron does not undergo the process of oxidization when exposed to air. Iron gets rusted too when exposed to moisture. On the other hand cast iron is not subjected to the formation of rust when exposed to moisture.
It is interesting to note that cast iron can be transformed into several other materials such as ductile iron, gray iron, malleable iron, white iron and wrought iron.