Percy Gilchrist
| Percy Gilchrist | |
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 Percy Gilchrist
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| Born | December 27, 1851 Lyme Regis |
| Died | December 16, 1935 |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | chemistry |
| Alma mater | Felsted |
Percy Carlyle Gilchrist FRS[1] (December 27, 1851 - December 16, 1935) was a British chemist and metallurgist born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, and who studied at Felsted and the Royal School of Mines. The son of Alexander and Anne Gilchrist, he is best known for his collaboration with his cousin, Sidney Gilchrist Thomas on what became the standard basic process of making steel.
The entailed producing low-phosphorus steel from local high-phosphorus ores,by changing the acidic process to a basic process and this meant that steel became cheaply available to British industry- low phosphorus ores being available by importation only. He developed the process in 1875-77, together with his cousin and it involved melting pig iron in a converter similar to that used in the Bessemer process and subjected to prolonged blowing. The oxygen in the blast of air oxidized carbon and other impurities, and the addition of lime at this stage caused the oxides to separate out as a slag on the surface of the molten metal. Continued blowing then brought about oxidation of the phosphorus.
[edit] References
- ^ Carpenter, H. C. H. (1936). "Percy Carlyle Gilchrist. 1851-1935". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 2 (5): 19–99. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1936.0002.
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