Industrial processes

Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical, physical, electrical or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacturing of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy industry.

Steelworks of Italy in 1958

Chemical processes
Main article: Chemical process
  • Smelting – extracting metals from ores
  • Haber process – chemically binding gaseous nitrogen from the atmosphere to make ammonia
  • Disinfection – chemical treatment to kill bacteria and viruses
  • Pyroprocessing – using heat to chemically combine materials, such as in cement.

Electrolysis
Main article: Electrolysis

The availability of electricity and its effect on materials gave rise to several processes for plating or separating metals.

Cutting

Metalworking
See also: Fabrication (metal) and Metalworking
  • Smelting and direct Reduction – extracting metals from ores.
  • Forging – the shaping of metal by use of heat and hammer
  • Casting – shaping of a liquid material by pouring it into moulds and letting it solidify
  • Steelmaking — turning "pig iron" from smelting into steel
  • Progressive stamping – the production of components from a strip or roll
  • Stamping
  • Hydroforming – a tube of metal is expanded into a mould under pressure
  • Sandblasting – cleaning of a surface using sand or other particles
  • Soldering, brazing, welding – a process for joining metals
  • Tumble polishing – for polishing
  • Precipitation hardening – heat treatment used to strengthen malleable materials
  • Work hardening – adding strength to metals, alloys, etc.
  • Case hardening, differential hardening, shot peening – creating a wear-resistant surface
  • Die cutting – A "forme" or "die" is pressed onto a flat material in order to cut, score, punch and otherwise shape the material
  • Electric arc furnace — very-high-temperature processing

Moulding

The physical shaping of materials by forming their liquid form using a mould.

Separation

Many materials exist in an impure form, purification, or separation provides a usable product.

Distillation

Distillation is the purification of volatile substances by evaporation and condensation

Additive manufacturing

In additive manufacturing, material is progressively added to the piece until the desired shape and size are obtained.

Petroleum and organic compounds

The nature of an organic molecule means it can be transformed at the molecular level to create a range of products.

Others

Organized by product:

A list by process:

See also

References
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