The metallurgy industry comprises the ferrous metallurgy industry and the non-ferrous metallurgy industry. Ferrous metallurgy primarily involves the production of pig iron, steel, and ferroalloys (such as ferrochromium and ferromanganese), while non-ferrous metallurgy covers the production of all other metals. Additionally, the field can be categorized to include the rare metal metallurgy industry and the powder metallurgy industry.
Metallurgy refers to the processes and techniques involved in extracting metals or metal compounds from minerals and using various processing methods to transform them into metal materials with specific properties. Metallurgy boasts a long history of development, spanning from the Stone Age and the subsequent Bronze Age to the large-scale development of modern iron and steel smelting; the history of human development is inextricably linked with the history of metallurgy.
Key metallurgical technologies include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and electrometallurgy. With the successful application of physical chemistry to the field, metallurgy evolved from a craft into a science, leading to the establishment of metallurgical engineering as an academic discipline in universities.
