The mild steel and pure iron test pieces were cut from new material.  As wrought iron is no longer made it was not possible to have a piece of new material for testing.  The test piece was cut from the centre of a bar recovered from Lichfield Cathedral.  Having been indoors all its life it was as good a sample as could be found and had no apparent flaws or defects.

The test was carried out by Keighley Laboratories Ltd and the results show an improvement in the corrosion resistance of pure iron of 20% over wrought iron and 22% over mild steel.

Weight loss expressed as grammes per square metre of exposed surface area.

Mild steel : 288 
Pure iron : 223
Wrought iron : 277

To view or print the Test Certificate click on the thumbnail image.