Is there a process that can reverse rust, turning it back into iron?

Question

I meant without losing any of the mass though, so that you could preserve that iron forever.

Answer 1

Certainly. A blast furnace can do it- burning off the oxygen in ferric oxide, which is... 'rust'.

These days there is a means to purify any element. With iron, it's pretty simple. It's been done for many hundreds of years. Ever heard of the 'Iron Age'? Look it up :-)

~ Jon

Answer 2

If you are refering to restoring an already rusted iron object back to a pristine condition (such as an artifact dug out of the ground), I don't think there is any way to make the rust turn back into iron and have it once more become part of the object (as if nothing ever happened). The best thing I am aware of to restore such items is a process that converts the rust back to finely divided iron, (but it can't force this iron to become part of the object again). It doesn't need any electricity. Its done as follows; first, go over the object with a magnet and see that it has a contigous, solid core beneath the rust (if it does not, do not use this procedure, as it will fall apart)! Take the rusted object and file a small area to expose the iron. Clamp a piece of zinc metal to this cleaned spot so as to have a good electrical contact. (I use metal binder clips). Place the assembly into a dillute solution of sodium hydroxide (lye) in water (be careful, the solution will be corrosive!) You should start to see bubbles coming off from it quite soon (this means the reaction is working). Keep it in a safe place away from children, pets etc. The process will take anythere from minutes to overnight, or longer, if heavily rusted. Periodicaly pull the item out, rinse, give it a carefull wire brushing and examine. The rust will be black and will come off much easier than usual. If it isn't clean, just put it back in again (remember to re-attach the zinc). Don't worry; you can't hurt the object by leaving it in too long. This process will strip off every bit of accessible rust, even from pores, right down to shiny iron, so, keep in mind, if the object is pitted under the rust, the cleaned object will also be pitted. Its final cleaning should be with a wire wheel or brush, rinse well in HOT water, and dry immediately! Give it a coat of wax, oil, or protective finish right away!

Note that many rusted items & relics will actualy look better if you just knock off the loose rust off and give the item a good working over with a wire wheel, a coarse file, or coarse wet-dry sand paper. (Don't take it all the way down to bare metal; leave a light residual layer of the dense, brown-colored rust; it will often give an attractive appearance and will somewhat protect against further oxidation. Note: if you have something that is really valuable; I suggest you get a proffessional to look at it first! I hope this is of some use to you.

Answer 3

3 1/4 pages!

Answer 4

Yes, but it's slightly destructive. You take the iron oxide and put it in a blast furnace with coke (and by coke I don't mean a soft drink). The iron oxide gets reduced to Fe and CO (carbon monoxide).

Answer 5

sure.. but it takes lots of energy..

One way is electrosis.. using a direct current to change the iron oxide back to iron

alternatively you can simply melt the rust by literally melting it in a very hight temperature furnace...

Answer 6

Yes, it has to pull off the oxygen. Naval jelly is one product sold to do it.