A Study on Burning of Iron Fryingpan in Cooking

Abstract

The phenomena of burning or olephilicity on surface of iron fryingpan would be considered to have many similarities to those of seizure or lubrication on the bearings in machinery. Therefore, the frictional coefficient of the mild steel specimens which were pretreated by many different methods were measured, and the relation between burning and frictional coefficient was discussed.
Among the testing specimens, it has been observed that the specimens heated at 200°C or 300°C after being oiled with soybean oil show low frictional coefficient, and the thin layer is formed on those surfaces.
From the infrared spectra of thin layer forming compound, it has been found that the metal soaps are formed from fatty acid and iron; i. e. chemical adhesion. The formation of the thin layers might result in low frictional coefficient on the surfaces of the specimens, and would keep down burning of the iron fryingpans during cooking.
These results have shown the intimate correlation between the frictional coefficient and burning of the iron fryingpans.