UW-Platteville American Foundry Society Student Chapter held their annual Iron Pour event on Nov. 1 in the Russell Hall parking lot from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m.

AFS Student Chapter is an organization that provides students who are interested in the metal industry with the correct techniques and tools needed to be successful. Metallurgy and metal casting are the main focuses of the group as they study the properties of metals.

The Iron Pour event was done in three parts, open to the public including pumpkin, scratch mold and large scratch mold pours.

The pumpkin pour had members of AFS pouring hot, liquid iron into multiple pumpkins. Some pumpkins were also filled with thermite, a common material in the weaponry from World War II that is known to be extremely hot when it becomes reactive.

Those who attended were encouraged to design a scratch mold. The scratch molds were made with a material known as sodium silicate, a sand that can be packed tight, and when hot iron is poured into the mold it hardens quickly. The sodium silicate was pressed into three different Halloween theme shapes: a ghost, a bat and a pumpkin.

Those who created a mold had to “scratch” what they wanted their design to look like in reverse so when the iron was poured it would create the positive of the picture. The scratch molds were then broken out of the molds and cooled for people to take with them.

The final event was a large spider web scratch mold that was filled by five members of AFS.

AFS Student Chapter meets weekly on Mondays at 5 p.m. in 0016 Russell Hall. All members have the opportunity to receive scholarships through the American Foundry Society.