077 -- Ironville Slag

Slag samples from Ironville, NY were analyzed to determine their mineral makeup. Slag is the byproduct that results from smelting, an industrial process used to separate a pure metal from an ore. A variety of samples were studied, and they range in their appearance from purple and blue glass, to gray and red vesicular material. All samples were crushed to a fine powder using a ball mill and then analyzed with the x-ray diffractometer (XRD). Glass was a main component of half of the samples we studied. The other half contained glass as well as crystalline materials. The crystals/minerals that were observed belonged to the pyroxene family as well as pure iron. Perhaps the most surprising analysis was discovering the presence of crystalline materials in a highly vesiculated sample.