The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower

Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. Carbon acts as a hardening agent, preventing iron atoms, which are naturally arranged in a crystal lattice, from sliding past one another (dislocation). Varying the amount of carbon and its distribution in the alloy controls qualities such as the hardness, elasticity, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel with increased carbon content can be made harder and stronger than iron, but is also more brittle. One classical definition is that steels are iron–carbon alloys with up to 2.1 percent carbon by weight; alloys with higher carbon content than this are known as cast iron. Steel is also to be distinguished from wrought iron with little or no carbon. It is common today to talk about 'the iron and steel industry' as if it were a single thing; it is today, but historically they were separate products. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1366x1708, 2319 KB) Description: Steel Wire rope of the the German colliery Zeche Zollern headgear Source: Taken with an OLYMPUS C2500L Date: 16. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1366x1708, 2319 KB) Description: Steel Wire rope of the the German colliery Zeche Zollern headgear Source: Taken with an OLYMPUS C2500L Date: 16. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith Look up Metal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resulting material has metallic properties. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... For the syntaxic operation, see Dislocation (syntax) For the medical term, see Dislocation (medicine) In materials science a dislocation is a linear crystallographic defect, or irregularity, in crystal structure. ... In materials science, hardness is the characteristic of a solid material expressing its resistance to permanent deformation. ... Elasticity has meanings in two different fields: In physics and mechanical engineering, the theory of elasticity describes how a solid object moves and deforms in response to external stress. ... Ductility is the physical property of being capable of sustaining large plastic deformations without fracture (in metals, such as being drawn into a wire). ... Tensile strength measures the force required to pull something such as rope, wire, or a structural beam to the point where it breaks. ... A material is brittle if it is subject to fracture when subjected to stress i. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ...

Currently there are several classes of steels in which carbon is replaced with other alloying materials, and carbon, if present, is undesired. A more recent definition is that steels are iron-based alloys that can be plastically formed (pounded, rolled, etc.). In physics and materials science, plasticity is a property of a material to undergo a non-reversible change of shape in response to an applied force. ...

Iron and steel

Iron ore pellets for the production of steel.

Iron, like most metals, is not found in the Earth's crust in a native state. Iron can be found in the crust only in combination with oxygen or sulfur. Typically Fe₂O₃—the form of iron oxide (rust) found as the mineral hematite, and FeS₂—Pyrite (fools gold). Iron oxide is a soft sandstone-like material with limited uses on its own. Iron is extracted from ore by removing the oxygen by combining it with a preferred chemical partner such as carbon. This process, known as smelting, was first applied to metals with lower melting points. Copper melts at just over 1000 °C, while tin melts around 250 °C. Both temperatures could be reached with ancient methods that have been used for at least 6000 years (since the Bronze Age). Since the oxidation rate itself increases rapidly beyond 800 °C, it is important that smelting take place in a fairly oxygen-free environment. Unlike copper and tin, liquid iron dissolves carbon quite readily, so that smelting results in an alloy containing too much carbon to be called steel. Image:LightningVolt Iron Ore Pellets. ... Image:LightningVolt Iron Ore Pellets. ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... Look up Crust in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... Iron oxide pigment There are a number of iron oxides: Iron oxides Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide (FeO) The black-coloured powder in particular can cause explosions as it readily ignites. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... Hematite (AE) or haematite (BE) is the mineral form of Iron (III) oxide, (Fe2O3), one of several iron oxides. ... The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is iron disulfide, FeS2. ... Sandstone near Stadtroda, Germany Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ... Iron ore (Banded iron formation) Manganese ore Lead ore Gold ore An ore is a volume of rock containing components or minerals in a mode of occurrence which renders it valuable for mining. ... Chemical reduction, or smelting, is a form of extractive metallurgy. ... In physics, melting is the process of heating a solid substance to a point (called the melting point) where it turns liquid. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic brown Atomic mass 63. ... A degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tin, Sn, 50 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 118. ... A degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

Iron-carbon phase diagram, showing the conditions necessary to form different phases.

Even in the narrow range of concentrations that make up steel, mixtures of carbon and iron can form into a number of different structures, or allotropes, with very different properties; understanding these is essential to making quality steel. At room temperature, the most stable form of iron is the body-centered cubic (BCC) structure ferrite or α-iron, a fairly soft metallic material that can dissolve only a small concentration of carbon (no more than 0.021 wt% at 910 °C). Above 910 °C ferrite undergoes a phase transition from body-centered cubic to a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure, called austenite or γ-iron, which is similarly soft and metallic but can dissolve considerably more carbon (as much as 2.04 wt% carbon at 1146°C). As carbon-rich austenite cools, the mixture attempts to revert to the ferrite phase, resulting in an excess of carbon. One way for carbon to leave the austenite is for cementite to precipitate out of the mix, leaving behind iron that is pure enough to take the form of ferrite, and resulting in a cementite-ferrite mixture. Cementite is a stoichiometric phase with the chemical formula of Fe₃C. Cementite forms in regions of higher carbon content while other areas revert to ferrite around it. Self-reinforcing patterns often emerge during this process, leading to a patterned layering known as pearlite due to its pearl-like appearance, or the similar but less beautiful bainite. Image File history File links Phase_diag_iron_carbon-color_temp. ... Image File history File links Phase_diag_iron_carbon-color_temp. ... In physical chemistry and materials science, a phase diagram is a type of graph used to show the equilibrium conditions between the thermodynamically-distinct phases. ... Allotropy (Gr. ... In crystallography, the cubic crystal system is the most symmetric of the 7 crystal systems. ... Iron-carbon phase diagram, showing the conditions under which ferrite (α) is stable. ... In physics, a phase transition, (or phase change) is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another. ... In crystallography, the cubic crystal system is the most symmetric of the 7 crystal systems. ... In crystallography, the cubic crystal system is the most symmetric of the 7 crystal systems. ... Iron-carbon phase diagram, showing the conditions under which austenite (γ) is stable in carbon steel. ... Cementite or iron carbide is a chemical compound with the formula Fe3C, and an orthorhombic crystal structure. ... In chemistry, stoichiometry (sometimes called reaction stoichiometry distinguishing itself from composition stoichiometry) is the study and calculation of quantitative (measurable) relationships of the reactants and products in chemical reactions (chemical equations). ... Pearlite occurs at the eutectoid of the iron-carbon phase diagram (near the lower left). ... Nuclei from Toba Pearl Island, Japan A pearl is a hard, rounded object produced by certain animals, primarily mollusks such as oysters. ... Iron-carbon phase diagram, showing the eutectoid temperature and composition, at which bainite can form. ...

Perhaps the most important allotrope is martensite, a chemically metastable substance with about four to five times the strength of ferrite. A minimum of 0.4 wt% of carbon is needed in order to form Martensite. When the Austenite is quenched to form Martensite the carbon is "frozen" in place when the cell structure changes from FCC to BCC. The carbon atom are much too large to fit in the interstatial vaccancies and thus distort the cell structure into a Body Centered Tetragonal (BCT) structure. Martensite and Austenite have an identical chemical composition. As such, it requires extremely little thermal activation energy to form. Martensite, named after the German metallurgist Adolf Martens, is a class of hard minerals occurring as lathe- or plate-shaped crystals. ... Metastability is the ability of a non-equilibrium state to persist for a long period of time. ... The sparks generated by striking steel against a flint provide the activation energy to initiate combustion in this Bunsen burner. ...

The heat treatment process for most steels involves heating the alloy until austenite forms, then quenching the hot metal in water or oil, cooling it so rapidly that the transformation to ferrite or pearlite does not have time to take place. The transformation into martensite, by contrast, occurs almost immediately, due to a lower activation energy. Quenching is a general term for non-radiative de-excitation. ... Water (from the Old English waeter; c. ... Natural olive oil Synthetic motor oil Oil is a generic term for a chemical compound that is not miscible with water, and is in its liquid state at common ambient temperatures. ...

Martensite has a lower density than austenite, so that the transformation between them results in a change of volume. In this case, expansion occurs. Internal stresses from this expansion generally take the form of compression on the crystals of martensite and tension on the remaining ferrite, with a fair amount of shear on both constituents. If quenching is done improperly, these internal stresses can cause a part to shatter as it cools; at the very least, they cause internal work hardening and other microscopic imperfections. It is common for quench cracks to form when water quenched, although they may not always be visible. Compression in material science, physics or structural engineering, is the stress state of materials where the volume tends to decrease (compaction). ... Tension is a reaction force applied by a stretched string (rope or a similar object) on the objects which stretch it. ... In physics and mechanics, shear refers to a deformation that causes parallel surfaces to slide past one another (as opposed to compression and tension, which cause parallel surfaces to move towards or away from one another). ... Work hardening, or strain hardening, is an increase in mechanical strength due to plastic deformation. ...

At this point, if its carbon content is high enough to produce a significant concentration of martensite, and is extremely hard but very brittle. Often, steel undergoes further heat treatment at a lower temperature to destroy some of the martensite (by allowing enough time for cementite, etc., to form) and help settle the internal stresses and defects. This softens the steel, producing a more ductile and fracture-resistant metal. Because time is so critical to the end result, this process is known as tempering, source of the term tempered steel. Tempering is a heat treatment technique for metals and alloys, most often the toughening of martensitic steel. ...

Other materials are often added to the iron-carbon mixture to tailor the resulting properties. Nickel and manganese in steel add to its tensile strength and make austenite more chemically stable, chromium increases the hardness and melting temperature, and vanadium also increases the hardness while reducing the effects of metal fatigue. Large amounts of chromium and nickel (often 18% and 8%, respectively) are added to stainless steel so that a hard oxide forms on the metal surface to inhibit corrosion. Tungsten interferes with the formation of cementite, allowing martensite to form with slower quench rates, resulting in high speed steel. On the other hand sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus make steel more brittle, so these commonly found elements must be removed from the ore during processing. General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... General Name, Symbol, Number chromium, Cr, 24 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 51. ... General Name, Symbol, Number vanadium, V, 23 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 5, 4, d Appearance gray-white metal Atomic mass 50. ... In materials science, hardness is the characteristic of a solid material expressing its resistance to permanent deformation. ... Metal Fatigue is a 1999 real-time strategy and mecha computer game developed by Zono, Inc and released by Psygnosis. ... In metallurgy, stainless steel (inox) is defined[1] as a ferrous alloy with a minimum of 10. ... Passivation is the process of making a material passive in relation to another material prior to using the materials together. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tungsten, W, 74 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 6, d Appearance grayish white, lustrous Atomic mass 183. ... High speed steel (HSS) is a material usually used in the manufacture of machine tool bits and cutters. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 14. ... This article is about the chemical element. ...

When iron is smelted from its ore by commercial processes, it contains more carbon than is desirable. To become steel, it must be melted and reprocessed to remove the correct amount of carbon, at which point other elements can be added. Once this liquid is cast into ingots, it usually must be "worked" at high temperature to remove any cracks or poorly mixed regions from the solidification process, and to produce shapes such as plate, sheet, wire, etc. It is then heat-treated to produce a desirable crystal structure, and often "cold worked" to produce the final shape. In modern steelmaking these processes are often combined, with ore going in one end of the assembly line and finished steel coming out the other. These can be streamlined by a deft control of the interaction between work hardening and tempering. 1913 Ford Model T assembly line. ... Work hardening, or strain hardening, is an increase in mechanical strength due to plastic deformation. ... Tempering is a heat treatment technique for metals and alloys, most often the toughening of martensitic steel. ...

History of iron and steelmaking

Iron was in limited use long before it became possible to smelt it. The first signs of iron use come from Ancient Egypt and Sumer, where around 4000 BC small items, such as the tips of spears and ornaments, were being fashioned from iron recovered from meteorites (see Iron: History). About 6% of meteorites are composed of an iron-nickel alloy, and iron recovered from meteorite falls allowed ancient peoples to manufacture small numbers of iron artifacts. Ancient Egypt was a civilization located in Africa, along the upper Nile, reaching from the Nile Delta in the north to as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile at the time of its greatest extension (15th century BC). ... It has been suggested that Edubba be merged into this article or section. ... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) Events City of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC). ... A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ...

Meteoric iron was also fashioned into tools in precontact North America. Beginning around the year 1000, the Thule people of Greenland began making harpoons and other edged tools from pieces of the Cape York meteorite. These artifacts were also used as trade goods with other Arctic peoples: tools made from the Cape York meteorite have been found in archaeological sites more than 1000 miles (1600 km) away. When the American polar explorer Robert Peary shipped the largest piece of the meteorite to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1897, it still weighed over 33 tons. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... // Events World Population 300 million. ... Thule as Tile on the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus. ... Whaling harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or other large aquatic animals such as whales. ... The Cape York meteorite, which collided with Earth nearly 10,000 years ago, is named for Cape York, the location of its discovery in Greenland, and is one of the largest meteorites in the world. ... Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole. ... The American Museum of Natural History is a landmark of Manhattans Upper West Side in New York, USA, at 79th Street and Central Park West. ... Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World Official website: City of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. ...

The name for iron in several ancient languages means "sky metal" or something similar. In distant antiquity, iron was regarded as a precious metal, suitable for royal ornaments.

The Iron Age

Iron axehead from Swedish Iron Age, found at Gotland, Sweden.

Beginning between 3000 BC to 2000 BC increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by their lack of nickel) appear in Anatolia, Egypt and Mesopotamia (see Iron: History). The oldest known samples of iron that appear to have been smelted from iron oxides are small lumps found at copper-smelting sites on the Sinai Peninsula, dated to about 3000 BC. Some iron oxides are effective fluxes for copper smelting; it is possible that small amounts of metallic iron were made as a by-product of copper and bronze production throughout the Bronze Age. PD image, from Swedish Wikipedia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... PD image, from Swedish Wikipedia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... (31st century BC - 30th century BC - 29th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 - 2776 BC - First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC - Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. ... (Redirected from 2000 BC) (21st century BC - 20th century BC - 19th century BC - other centuries) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 2064 - 1986 BC -- Twin Dynasty wars in Egypt 2000 BC -- Farmers and herders travel south from Ethiopia and settle in Kenya. ... Chemical reduction, or smelting, is a form of extractive metallurgy. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... Iron oxide pigment There are a number of iron oxides: Iron oxides Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide (FeO) The black-coloured powder in particular can cause explosions as it readily ignites. ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation). ...

In Anatolia, smelted iron was occasionally used for ornamental weapons: an iron-bladed dagger with a bronze hilt has been recovered from a Hattic tomb dating from 2500 BC. Also, the Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun died in 1323 BC and was buried with an iron dagger with a golden hilt. An Ancient Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze haft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit (see Ugarit). The early Hittites are known to have bartered iron for silver, at a rate of 40 times the iron's weight, with Assyria. Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... Hatti is the reconstructed ancient name of a region in Anatolia inhabited by the Hattians between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, and later by the Hittites, who were at the height of their power ca 1400 BC–1200 BC. The capital city of both peoples was Hattusa (modern Bogazköy... (Redirected from 2500 BC) (26th century BC - 25th century BC - 24th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC -- Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period 2494 BC -- End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. ... An unrealistic portrait of the young Tutankhamun by Winifred Brunton. ... (Redirected from 1323 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC 1330s BC - 1320s BC - 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC 1270s BC Events and Trends Egypt: End of Eighteenth Dynasty, start of Nineteenth Dynasty (1320... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ... Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century Sword (from Old English sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, literally wounding tool from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- to wound, to hurt) is a term for a long-edged, bladed weapon, consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade, usually... Pharaoh (Arabic فرعون ) (Hebrew פַּרְעֹה ); is a title used to refer to the kings (of godly status) in ancient Egypt. ... Merneptah (occasionally: Merenptah) was pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (1213 – 1203 BC), the fourth ruler of the 19th Dynasty. ... Swedish halberds from 16th century A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. ... Entrance to the Palace of Ugarit Ugarit (modern site Ras Shamra رأس شمرة; in Arabic) 35°35´ N; 35°45´E) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. ... Entrance to the Palace of Ugarit Ugarit (modern site Ras Shamra رأس شمرة; in Arabic) 35°35´ N; 35°45´E) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. ... Relief of Suppiluliuma II, last known king of the Hittite Empire Hittites is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa (Hittite URU) in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century... It has been suggested that Swapping (barter) be merged into this article or section. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ...

Iron did not, however, replace bronze as the chief metal used for weapons and tools for several centuries, despite some attempts. Working iron required more fuel and significantly more labor than working bronze, and the quality of iron produced by early smiths may have been inferior to bronze as a material for tools. Then, between 1200 and 1000 BC, iron tools and weapons displaced bronze ones throughout the near east. This process appears to have begun in the Hittite Empire around 1300 BC, or in Cyprus and southern Greece, where iron artifacts dominate the archaeological record after 1050 BC. Mesopotamia was fully into the Iron Age by 900 BC, central Europe by 800 BC. The reason for this sudden adoption of iron remains a topic of debate among archaeologists. One prominent theory is that warfare and mass migrations beginning around 1200 BC disrupted the regional tin trade, forcing a switch from bronze to iron. Egypt, on the other hand, did not experience such a rapid transition from the bronze to iron ages: although Egyptian smiths did produce iron artifacts, bronze remained in widespread use there until after Egypt's conquest by Assyria in 663 BC. (Redirected from 1200 BC) Centuries: 14th century BC - 13th century BC - 12th century BC Decades: 1250s BC 1240s BC 1230s BC 1220s BC 1210s BC - 1200s BC - 1190s BC 1180s BC 1170s BC 1160s BC 1150s BC Events and Trends 1204 BC - Theseus, legendary King of Athens is deposed after... (Redirected from 1000 BC) Centuries: 12th century BC - 11th century BC - 10th century BC Decades: 1050s BC 1040s BC 1030s BC 1020s BC 1010s BC - 1000s BC - 990s BC 980s BC 970s BC 960s BC 950s BC Events and Trends 1006 BC - David becomes king of the ancient Israelites (traditional... Hittites is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa (the modern village of Boğazköy in todayss north-central Turkey), through most of the second millennium BC. The Hittite kingdom, which at its height controlled... (Redirected from 1300 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1350s BC 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC - 1300s BC - 1290s BC 1280s BC 1270s BC 1260s BC 1250s BC Events and Trends Cecrops II, legendary King of Athens dies after a reign... (Redirected from 1050 BC) Centuries: 12th century BC - 11th century BC - 10th century BC Decades: 1100s BC 1090s BC 1080s BC 1070s BC 1060s BC - 1050s BC - 1040s BC 1030s BC 1020s BC 1010s BC 1000s BC Events and Trends 1053 BC - Death of Zhou kang wang, King of the... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Centuries: 11th century BC - 10th century BC - 9th century BC Decades: 950s BC 940s BC 930s BC 920s BC 910s BC - 900s BC - 890s BC 880s BC 870s BC 860s BC 850s BC Events and Trends 909 BC - Zhou xiao wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. ... Centuries: 10th century BC - 9th century BC - 8th century BC Decades: 850s BC 840s BC 830s BC 820s BC 810s BC - 800s BC - 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC Events and Trends 804 BC - Hadad-nirari IV of Assyria conquers Damascus. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Centuries: 8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC - 660s BC - 650s BC 640s BC 630s BC 620s BC 610s BC Events and Trends 668 BC - Egypt revolts against Assyria 668 BC - Assurbanipal succeeds Esarhaddon as king of...

Iron smelting at this time was based on the bloomery, a furnace where bellows were used to force air through a pile of iron ore and burning charcoal. The carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal reduced the iron oxides to metallic iron, but the bloomery was not hot enough to melt the iron. Instead, the iron collected in the bottom of the furnace as a spongy mass, or bloom, whose pores were filled with ash and slag. The bloom then had to be reheated to soften the iron and melt the slag, and then repeatedly beaten and folded to force the molten slag out of it. The result of this time-consuming and laborious process was wrought iron, a malleable but fairly soft alloy containing little carbon. A bloomery is a type of furnace once widely used for smelting iron from its oxides. ... Hand bellows The bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... Carbon monoxide, chemical formula CO, is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, flammable and highly toxic gas. ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ...

Wrought iron can be carburized into a mild steel by holding it in a charcoal fire for prolonged periods of time. By the beginning of the Iron Age, smiths had discovered that iron that was repeatedly reforged produced a higher quality of metal. Quench-hardening was also known by this time. The oldest quench-hardened steel artifact is a knife found on Cyprus at a site dated to 1100 BC. Carburization (often referred to as carburizing) is the name of the process by which carbon is introduced into a metal. ... (Redirected from 1100 BC) Centuries: 13th century BC - 12th century BC - 11th century BC Decades: 1150s BC 1140s BC 1130s BC 1120s BC 1110s BC - 1100s BC - 1090s BC 1080s BC 1070s BC 1060s BC 1050s BC Events and Trends 1100 BC - Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites...

Developments in China

Archaeologists and historians debate whether bloomery-based ironworking ever spread to China from the West. Around 500 BC, however, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu developed an iron smelting technology that would not be practiced in Europe until late medieval times. In Wu, iron smelters achieved a temperature of 1130°C, hot enough to be considered a blast furnace. At this temperature, iron combines with 4.3% carbon and melts. As a liquid, iron can be cast into molds, a method far less laborious than individually forging each piece of iron from a bloom. Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... Wu was a state during the Spring and Autumn Period in China. ... Blast furnace diagram A blast furnace is a type of furnace for smelting metal ore. ... One half of a bronze mold for casting a socketed spear head dated to the period 1400-1000 BC. This article is about the manufacturing process; for other uses, see Casting (disambiguation). ... Moldy Bread Molds, or mould, are various fungi that cover surfaces in the form of fluffy mycelia and usually produce masses of spores (most commonly asexual spores but sometimes sexual). ...

Cast iron is rather brittle and unsuitable for striking implements. It can, however, be decarburized to steel or wrought iron by heating it in air for several days. In China, these ironworking methods spread northward, and by 300 BC, iron was the material of choice throughout China for most tools and weapons. A mass grave in Hebei province, dated to the early third century BC, contains several soldiers buried with their weapons and other equipment. The artifacts recovered from this grave are variously made of wrought iron, cast iron, malleabilized cast iron, and quench-hardened steel, with only a few, probably ornamental, bronze weapons. Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC - 300s BC - 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC Years: 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC - 300 BC - 299 BC 298 BC... Hebei (Chinese: 河北; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hopeh) is a northern province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

During the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220), Chinese ironworking achieved a scale and sophistication not reached in the West until the eighteenth century. In the first century, the Han government established ironworking as a state monopoly and built a series of large blast furnaces in Henan province, each capable of producing several tons of iron per day. By this time, Chinese metallurgists had discovered how to puddle molten pig iron, stirring it in the open air until it lost its carbon and became wrought iron. (In Chinese, the process was called chao, literally, stir frying.) The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: 漢朝; Simplified Chinese: 汉朝; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 3rd century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC Years: 207 BC 206 BC 205 BC 204 BC 203 BC - 202 BC - 201 BC 200 BC 199 BC 198 BC 197 BC Events October... Events Han Xiandi abdicates his throne to Cao Pi, symbolizing the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in China. ... Henan (Chinese: 河南; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. ... Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace The puddling furnace is a metalmaking technology to create wrought iron from the pig iron produced in a blast furnace. ... Stir frying is a common Chinese cooking technique used because of its fast cooking speed. ...

Also during this time, Chinese metallurgists had found that wrought iron and cast iron could be melted together to yield an alloy of intermediate carbon content, that is, steel. According to legend, the sword of Liu Bang, the first Han emperor, was made in this fashion. Some texts of the era mention "harmonizing the hard and the soft" in the context of ironworking; the phrase may refer to this process. Emperor Gao (256 BC or 247 BC–June 1, 195 BC), commonly known inside China as Gaozu, personal name Liu Bang, was the first emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, ruling over China from 202 BC until 195 BC, and one of only two dynasty founders who emerged from the...

Steelmaking in India

Perhaps as early as 300 BC, although certainly by AD 200, high quality steel was being produced in southern India by what Europeans would later call the crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in crucibles and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. The resulting high-carbon steel, called پولاد (pulâd) in Persian and wootz by later Europeans, was exported throughout much of Asia. A solid pillar of rust-resistant steel forged in 4th century AD and now standing for many centuries next to the Qutab Minar in Delhi is a testimony of the steel manufacturing skills of Indian artisans. The famous Damascus swords were made of steel imported from India. Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC - 300s BC - 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC Years: 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC - 300 BC - 299 BC 298 BC... For other uses, see number 200. ... Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ... Persian is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Wootz, is a steel alloy having a pattern of bands or sheets of micro carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite matrix. ... Damascus steel, also known as Damascened steel and sometimes water steel, now commonly refers to two types of steel used in custom knife and sword making, pattern-weld and wootz (true damascus). ...

Steelmaking in the Middle East

By the 9th century, smiths in the Abbasid caliphate had developed techniques for forging wootz to produce steel blades of unusual flexibility and sharpness (Damascus steel). The secret of forging this kind of steel was lost, even in the Middle East, by around 1600, and only recently have metallurgists found methods for reproducing its properties. As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... Abbasid provinces during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid Abbasid was the dynastic name generally given to the caliphs of Baghdad, the second of the two great Sunni dynasties of the Muslim empire, that overthrew the Umayyid caliphs. ... Damascus steel, also known as Damascened steel and sometimes water steel, now commonly refers to two types of steel used in custom knife and sword making, pattern-weld and wootz (true damascus). ...

Recent research has established strong evidence supporting the theory that the distinct surface patterns on these blades result from a carbide-banding phenomenon produced by the microsegregation of minor amounts of carbide-forming elements present in the wootz ingots from which the blades were forged. Further, it is likely that wootz Damascus blades with damascene patterns may have been produced only from wootz ingots supplied from those regions of India having appropriate impurity-containing ore deposits.

Ironworking in medieval Europe

The middle ages in Europe saw the construction of progressively larger bloomeries. By the 8th century, smiths in northern Spain had developed a style that become known as a Catalan forge, a furnace about 1 meter (3 feet) tall, capable of smelting up to 150 kg (350 lb) of iron in each batch. In succeeding centuries, smiths in the Frankish empire and later the Holy Roman Empire scaled up this basic design, increasing the height of the flue to as tall as 5 meters (16 feet) and smelting as much as 350 kg (750 lb) of iron in each batch. These larger furnaces required more draft than could be provided by human power, and forging the large blooms that resulted was also beyond the capabilities of a single man. To this end, waterwheels were employed to power the bellows and hammers. Open hearth furnaces are the furnaces where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of Pig iron to produce Steel. ... The Frankish Empire was the territory of the Franks, from the 5th to the 10th centuries, from 481 ruled by Clovis I of the Merovingian Dynasty, the first king of all the Franks. ... The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ... An overshot water wheel standing 42 feet high powers the Old Mill at Berry College in Rome, Georgia A water wheel (also waterwheel, Norse mill, Persian wheel or noria) is a hydropower system; a system for extracting power from a flow of water. ...

Eventually, the scaling up of the bloomery reached a point where the furnace was hot enough to produce cast iron. Although the brittle cast iron may initially have been a nuisance to the smith, as it was too brittle to be forged, the spread of cannons to Europe in the 1300s provided an application for iron casting, cast iron cannonballs. A small Civil War-era cannon on a carriage A cannon is any large tubular firearm designed to fire a heavy projectile over a considerable distance. ...

The oldest known blast furnace in Europe was constructed at Lapphyttan in Sweden, sometime between 1150 and 1350. Other early European blast furnaces were built throughout the Rhine valley: blast furnaces were in operation near Liège (a city in modern-day Belgium) in the 1340s, and at Massevaux in France by 1409. Loreley At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein, Italian: Reno) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ... Liège (Dutch: Luik, German: Lüttich; before 1946, the citys name was written Liége, with the acute accent) is a major city located in the Belgian province of Liège, of which it is the capital. ... Events January 1 - The Welsh surrender Harlech Castle to the English. ...

The first English blast furnace was not built until 1491, when Queenstock furnace was built at Buxted, followed by one commissioned Henry VII at Newbridge, in 1496 in a part of Sussex known as the Weald. Despite this late start, the production of English iron foundries rapidly grew, in no small part due to foreign craftsmen hired by Henry to bring the craft of iron casting to England. In 1543, William Levett, a Wealden ironmaster, and Peter Baude, a French craftsman in Henry VIII's employ, cast the Weald's first one-piece iron cannon. English iron cannons gained a reputation for being superior to, and less expensive than, the bronze cannons made elsewhere in Europe, and at least initially, efforts to copy them outside the Weald failed. The superiority of English cannons over Spanish ones has been credited as one factor in England's 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada. // Events December 6 - King Charles VIII marries Anne de Bretagne, thus incorporating Brittany into the kingdom of France. ... Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1999), King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), was the founder and first patriarch of the Tudor dynasty. ... 1496 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sussex is a traditional county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... A weald once meant a dense forest, especially the famous great wood once stretching far beyond the ancient counties of Sussex and Kent, England, where this country of smaller woods is still called the Weald. ... // Events February 21 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeat the armies of Adal led by Ahmed Gragn. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... 1588 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Combatants England United Provinces Spain Commanders Charles Howard Francis Drake Duke of Medina Sidonia Strength 34 warships 163 merchant vessels 22 galleons 108 merchant vessels Casualties 500 dead or wounded 600 dead, 397 captured 3 merchant ships sunk 1 merchant ship captured The Spanish Armada or Great/Grand Armada (Old...

In 1619, Jan Andries Moerbeck, a Dutch ironmaster, began importing Wealden iron ore for comparison to the ore available on the Continent. One difference he observed was that the English ore contained some calcareous material, and soon after, Dutch ironmasters introduced the use of limestone as a flux in the blast furnace. This practice improved the separation of slag from the cast iron and improved the quality of Continental cast iron. Events May 13 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason. ...

Steelmaking in early modern Europe

In the early 17th century, ironworkers in western Europe had found a means (called cementation) to carburize wrought iron. Wrought iron bars and charcoal were packed into stone boxes, then held at a red heat for up to a week. During this time, carbon diffused into the iron, producing a product called cement steel or blister steel (see cementation process). One of the earliest places where this was used in England was at Coalbrookdale, where Sir Basil Brooke had two cementation furnaces (recently excavated). For a time in the 1610s, he owned a patent on the process, but had to surrender this in 1619. He probably used Forest of Dean iron as his raw material. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... The cementation process is a obsolete technique for making steel. ... Map sources for Coalbrookdale at grid reference SJ668047 Coalbrookdale, a settlement in Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. ... The (Royal) Forest of Dean is a region in the county of Gloucestershire, England. ...

Soon after that it was found that the the best steel could only be produced by buying expensive örgrund (or oregrounds) iron from Sweden. Although it was not understood at the time, the ore from the Dannemora mine (from which it was made) had very low phosphorus content compared to most ores (notably those in England), which allowed for a finer and stronger crystal structure. Sales of Swedish iron generated considerable trade income, and local development helped the country become the industrialised nation it remains to this day. This Swedish iron provided the main basis for English steelmaking until the 1850s // Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution...

Benjamin Huntsman in the 1740s found a method of producing a more homogeneous steel. This was done by melting pieces of blister steel in crucibles. This was cast into ingots of crucible steel. He made this discovery at Handsworth in England. While producing steel superior to cement steel, the crucible steel process remained relatively expensive in both time and fuel, and could not be used in any sort of modern industrial scale. The strong steels produced were however in high demand for specialty products such as cutlery and weapons. Sheffield's Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet has preserved a waterwheel powered, scythe-making works dating from Huntsman's times. It is still operated for the public, several times per year, using crucible steel made on the Abbeydale site. An improvement on crucible steel was the Cementation process. Benjamin Huntsman (1704 - 1776), English inventor and steel-manufacturer, was born in Lincolnshire. ... Events and Trends The War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) rages. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into crucible steel. ... Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ... Handsworth is a suburb of south eastern Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked... Starch-polyester disposable cutlery Cutlery refers to any hand utensil used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield, England is a steel working site with a very long history. ... The cementation process is a obsolete technique for making steel. ...

references

K. Barraclough, Steelmaking before Bessemer (2 vols, 1984). P. King, 'The cartel in oregrounds iron' Journal of Industrial History 6 (2003), 25-48.

Ironmaking in early modern Europe

From the 16th century to the 18th century, most iron was made by a two-stage process involving a blast furnace and finery forge, using charcoal as fuel. Production was however limited by the supply of wood for making charcoal. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Blast furnace diagram A blast furnace is a type of furnace for smelting metal ore. ... Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. ...

By the 18th century, deforestation in western Europe was making ironworking and its charcoal-hungry processes increasingly expensive. In 1709 Abraham Darby began smelting iron using coke, a refined coal product, in place of charcoal at his ironworks at Coalbrookdale in England. Although coke could be produced less expensively than charcoal, coke-fired iron was initially of inferior quality compared to charcoal-fired iron. It was not until the 1750s, when Darby's son, also called Abraham, managed to start selling coke-smelted pig iron for the production of wrought iron in finery forges. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested. ... // Events January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24. ... Abraham Darby (c. ... Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. ... // Overview of Coal Sector in India 2005 This comprehensive review of the Indian coal sector analyses the prevailing scenario in the Indian coal sector alongwith existing policy & regulatory framework. ... Ironworks at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. ... Map sources for Coalbrookdale at grid reference SJ668047 Coalbrookdale, a settlement in Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked... Events March 2 - Small earthquake in London, England April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella James Gray reveals her sex... Abraham Darby II (1711-1763) was the second of that name of three generations of an English Quaker family that was key to the development of the Industrial Revolution. ... Pig iron is raw iron, the immediate product of smelting iron ore with coke and limestone in a blast furnace. ... Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. ...

Another 18th-century European development was the invention of the puddling furnace. In particular, the form of coal-fired puddling furnace developed by the British ironmaster Henry Cort in 1784 made it possible to convert cast iron into wrought iron in large batches (without charcoal), rendering the ancient finery forge obsolescent. Wrought iron produced using this method became a major raw material in the English midlands' iron manufacruring trades. Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace The puddling furnace is a metalmaking technology to create wrought iron from the pig iron produced in a blast furnace. ... During the Industrial Revolution in England, Henry Cort began refining iron from pig iron to wrought iron using innovative production systems. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. ...

Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace.

Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace. ... Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace. ...

Industrial steelmaking

Schematic drawing of a Bessemer converter

The problem of mass-producing steel was solved in 1855 by Henry Bessemer, with the introduction of the Bessemer converter at his steelworks in Sheffield, England. (An early converter can still be seen at the city's Kelham Island Museum). In the Bessemer process, molten pig iron from the blast furnace was charged into a large crucible, and then air was blown through the molten iron from below, igniting the dissolved carbon from the coke. As the carbon burned off, the melting point of the mixture increased, but the heat from the burning carbon provided the extra energy needed to keep the mixture molten. After the carbon content in the melt had dropped to the desired level, the air draft was cut off: a typical Bessemer converter could convert a 25-ton batch of pig iron to steel in half an hour. Bessemer converter. ... Bessemer converter. ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) Sir Henry Bessemer (January 19, 1813 – March 15, 1898), English engineer, was born at Charlton near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. ... Bessemer converter, schematic diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked... The Kelham Island Industrial Museum occupies the site of a former steelworks on an island in the River Don in Sheffield, England. ... Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. ...

In 1867, the German-British engineer Sir William Siemens introduced an improved puddling furnace – the regenerative furnace – that used brick heat exchangers to preheat the incoming air and conserve fuel. The next year Pierre and Émile Martin, French ironmasters who had licensed Siemens' furnace design, developed a method for measuring the carbon content of molten iron. Thus, the decarburization could be stopped at the steel stage rather than proceeding all the way to wrought iron. This open-hearth process coexisted in industrial practice with the Bessemer process for many years, but eventually proved more economical and displaced it. Reasons for this include its ability to recycle scrap metal in addition to fresh pig iron, its greater scalability (up to hundreds of tons per batch, compared to tens of tons for the Bessemer process), and the more precise quality control it permitted. 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Wilhelm Siemens Carl Wilhelm Siemens (en: Charles William Siemens) (April 4, 1823 – November 19, 1883) was a German engineer. ... Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens invented the Siemens regenerative furnace which was first used about 1865. ... A heat exchanger is a device for transferring heat from one fluid to another, where the fluids are separated by a solid wall so that they never mix. ... Open hearth furnaces are the furnaces where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of Pig iron to produce Steel. ...   The international symbol for recycling. ... Categories: Stub | Waste ... In engineering and manufacturing, quality control and quality engineering are involved in developing systems to ensure products or services are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements and expectations. ...

A huge vat of molten steel being poured into an open hearth furnace at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, Pittsburgh, May 1942.

Initially, only ores low in phosphorus and sulfur could be used for quality steelmaking; ores rich in those elements yielded brittle metals little better than cast iron. This problem was solved in 1878 by Percy Carlyle Gilchrist and his cousin Sidney Gilchrist Thomas at the ironworks at Blaenavon in Wales. Their modified Bessemer process used a converter lined with limestone or dolomite, and additional lime was added to the molten metal as a flux. This added basic material removed phosphorus and sulfur from the steel as insoluble calcium or magnesium phosphates and sulfates. This development expanded the range of iron ores that could be used to make steel, especially in France and Germany, where high-phosphorus ores abounded. Download high resolution version (1370x1119, 172 KB)A huge vat of molten steel being poured into a mold at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, Pittsburgh, May 1942. ... Download high resolution version (1370x1119, 172 KB)A huge vat of molten steel being poured into a mold at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, Pittsburgh, May 1942. ... The earliest foundations of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company appeared in 1853 and 1859 when two iron-producing enterprises began operations several miles (c 4km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (April 16, 1850 - August 1, 1885) was a British inventor. ... Blaenavon (Welsh: Blaenafon) is a town and World Heritage Site in Torfaen, southern Wales, lying at the source of the Llwyd River. ... For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom, England and Wales and England, see British Isles (terminology). ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Dolomite crystals from Touissite, Morocco Dolomite is the name of both a carbonate rock and a mineral (formula: CaMg(CO3)2) consisting of a calcium magnesium carbonate found in crystals. ... In metallurgy, flux is a substance which facilitates soldering, brazing, and welding by chemically cleaning the metals to be joined. ... It has been suggested that strong base be merged into this article or section. ...

Finally, the basic oxygen process was introduced at the Voest-Alpine works in 1952; a modification of the basic Bessemer process, it lances oxygen from above the steel (instead of bubbling air from below), reducing the amount of nitrogen uptake into the steel. The basic oxygen process is used in all modern steelworks; the last Bessemer converter in the U.S. was retired in 1968. Furthermore, the last three decades have seen a massive increase in the mini-mill business, where scrap steel only is melted with an electric arc furnace. These mills only produced bar products at first, but have since expanded into flat and heavy products, once the exclusive domain of the integrated steelworks. Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, Linz-Donawitz-Verfahren, LD-converter) is a method of converting molten iron to steel. ... An electric arc furnace is a system that heats the charged material by means of an electric arc. ...

These developments increased the availability and decreased the price of steel; 22 thousand tonnes were produced in 1867, 500 thousand in 1870, 1 million in 1880 and 28 million by 1900. In 2005, total world crude steel production was 1,107.2 million metric tons (mmt) [1]. The top three steel-producing countries were China (349.4 mmt), Japan (112.5 mmt) and the United States (93.9 mmt) (see chart below).

Until these 19th century developments, steel was an expensive commodity and only used for a limited number of purposes where a particularly hard or flexible metal was needed, as in the cutting edges of tools and springs. The widespread availability of inexpensive steel powered the second industrial revolution and modern society as we know it. Mild steel ultimately replaced wrought iron for almost all purposes, and wrought iron is not now (or is hardly now) made. With minor exceptions, alloy steels only began to be made in the late 19th century. Stainless steel was only developed on the eve of the First World War and only began to come into widespread use in the 1920s. These alloy steels are all dependent on the wide availability of inexpensive iron and steel and the ability to alloy it at will. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (871x626, 1600 KB) Summary Summary Author: Tom Cool (User:Tomcool) Top Steel Producing Countries, 2005 a PNG image produced from a MS Excel bar graph. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (871x626, 1600 KB) Summary Summary Author: Tom Cool (User:Tomcool) Top Steel Producing Countries, 2005 a PNG image produced from a MS Excel bar graph. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Second Industrial Revolution (1871–1914) involved significant developments for society and the world. ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ... A wrought iron railing in Troy, New York. ... In metallurgy, stainless steel (inox) is defined[1] as a ferrous alloy with a minimum of 10. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Social issues of the 1920s. ...

Steel is currently the most recycled material in the world, the industry estimates that of new metal produced each year some 42.3% is recycled material. All steel that is available is currently recycled, the long service life of steel in applications such as construction means that there is a vast 'store' of steel in use that is recycled as it becomes available. New metal derived from raw materials is necessary to make up demand.

Types of steel

Alloy steels were known from antiquity, being nickel-rich iron from meteorites hot-worked into useful products. In a modern sense, alloy steels have been made since the invention of furnaces capable of melting iron, into which other metals could be thrown and mixed. General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ... A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ...

Historic types

• Damascus steel, which was famous in ancient times for its durability and ability to hold an edge, was created from a number of different materials (some only in traces), essentially a complicated alloy with iron as main component.
• Blister steel - steel produced by the cementation process
• Crucible steel - steel produced by Benjamin Huntsman's crucible technique
• Styrian Steel, also called 'German steel' or 'Cullen steel' (being traded through Cologne) was made in Styria in Austria by fining cast iron from certain manganese-rich ores.
• Shear steel was blister steel that was broekn up, faggotted, heated and welded to produce a more homogeneous product.

Damascus steel, also known as Damascened steel and sometimes water steel, now commonly refers to two types of steel used in custom knife and sword making, pattern-weld and wootz (true damascus). ... The cementation process is a obsolete technique for making steel. ... Benjamin Huntsman (1704 - 1776), English inventor and steel-manufacturer, was born in Lincolnshire. ... Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ... Köln may refer to: Cologne (German: Köln), the fourth largest city in Germany and largest city of the North Rhine-Westphalia state German Cruiser Köln that served from 1930-1945 mostly for the Kriegsmarine German Frigate Köln (1961-1982), a F120 Köln class frigate of...

Contemporary Steel

• Carbon steel, of which mild steel is one type.
• Stainless steels and surgical stainless steels contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium, often combined with nickel, to resist corrosion (rust). Some stainless steels are nonmagnetic.
• Tool steels
• HSLA Steel (High Strength, Low Alloy)
• Advanced High Strength Steels
  • Complex Phase Steel
  • Dual Phase Steel
  • TRIP steel
  • TWIP steel
  • Maraging steel
• Ferrous superalloys
• Hatfield steel or Manganese steel, this contains 12-14% manganese which when abraded forms an incredibly hard skin which resists wearing. Some examples are tank tracks, bulldozer blade edges and cutting blades on the jaws of life.

Though not an alloy, there exists also galvanized steel, which is steel that has gone through the chemical process of being hot-dipped or electroplated in zinc for protection against rust. Finished steel is steel that can be sold without further work or treatment. Carbon steel is a metal alloy, a combination of two elements, iron and carbon, where other elements are present in quantities too small to affect the properties. ... In metallurgy, stainless steel (inox) is defined[1] as a ferrous alloy with a minimum of 10. ... Surgical stainless steel is a variation of steel consisting of an alloy of chromium (12-20%), molybdenum (0. ... General Name, Symbol, Number chromium, Cr, 24 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 51. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ... Corrosion, atmospheric and biologic (Barnacles) Corrosion is deterioration of intrinsic properties in a material due to reactions with its environment. ... A blacksmith removing rust with sand prior to welding The rusting can completely eat away iron Rusted bolt Rust is the substance formed when iron compounds corrode in the presence of oxygen and water. ... Tool steel refers to a variety of carbon and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools. ... HSLA Steel (High Strength Low Alloy Steel) is a type of steel alloy that provides many benefits over regular steel alloys. ... Maraging steel is an iron-based steel alloy which is known for possessing superior strength without losing malleability. ... A super-alloy, or high-performance alloy, is an FCC alloy with superior mechanical strength and creep resistance at high temperatures, good surface stability, and corrosion and oxidation resistance. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... A bulldozer is a powerful crawler (caterpillar tracked tractor) equipped with a blade. ... The Jaws Of Life, with spreader and cutter capability The Jaws of Life, or Hurst Tool, is a line of tools originally developed by Hurst Performance and now under the registered trademark of Hale Products, Inc. ... Hot-dip galvanizing is a form of galvanization. ...

Production methods

• Crucible technique - the original steel making technique, developed in India as wootz, used in the Middle East as Damascus steel.
• Cementation process used to convert bars of wrought iron into blister steel. This was the main process used in England from the early 17th century.
• The more recent version of the crucible technique was independently redeveloped in Sheffield by Benjamin Huntsman in c.1740, and Pavel Anosov in Russia in 1837. Huntsman's raw material was blister steel.
• Bessemer process, the first large-scale steel production process for mild steel.
• puddling
• The Siemens-Martin process, using an Open hearth furnace
• Basic oxygen steelmaking
• Electric arc furnace a form of secondary steelmaking from scrap, though the process can also use direct-reduced iron

Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ... Wootz, is a steel alloy having a pattern of bands or sheets of micro carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite matrix. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Damascus steel, also known as Damascened steel and sometimes water steel, now commonly refers to two types of steel used in custom knife and sword making, pattern-weld and wootz (true damascus). ... The cementation process is a obsolete technique for making steel. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked... Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel alloy by slowly heating and cooling iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... Benjamin Huntsman (1704 - 1776), English inventor and steel-manufacturer, was born in Lincolnshire. ... Bessemer converter, schematic diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ... Schematic drawing of a puddling furnace The puddling furnace is a metalmaking technology to create wrought iron from the pig iron produced in a blast furnace. ... Open hearth furnaces are the furnaces where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of Pig iron to produce Steel. ... Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, Linz-Donawitz-Verfahren, LD-converter) is a method of converting molten iron to steel. ... An electric arc furnace is a system that heats the charged material by means of an electric arc. ...

Uses of steel

Historically

Steel was expensive and was only used where nothing else would do, particularly for the cutting edge of knives, razors, swords, and other tools where a hard sharp edged was needed. It was also used for springs, including in clocks and watches.

Since 1850

Steel has been easier to obtain and much cheaper, and it has replaced wrought iron for a multitude of purposes. It continues to be used in many situations, though the new availabilty of plastics during the 20th century has meant that it has ceased to be used for some. Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Long steel

• wires
• rail tracks
• As girders in building modern tall buildings, bridges

... A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of drawn metal. ... Railroad or railway tracks are used on railways, which, together with railroad switches (points), guide trains without the need for steering. ... Buildings are combinatorial structures on which groups act; the theory of buildings was introduced by Jacques Tits and expounded in Kenneth S. Browns excellent monograph Buildings. ... This article is about the edifice (it is primarily an index to articles concerning specific bridge types). ...

Flat carbon steel

• For the inside and outside body of cars, trains,
• Major appliances

... CAR is a three letter-acronym, that may stand for: Canadian Airborne Regiment Canadian Aviation Regulations Canonical anticommutation relation Caribou Municipal Airport (IATA airport code CAR) in Caribou, Maine, United States Center Axis Relock, a new shooting technique developed by Paul Castle Central African Republic Computer-assisted reporting Cordillera Administrative... For other uses, see Train (disambiguation). ... A major appliance is a large machine which accomplishes some routine housekeeping task, which includes purposes such as cooking, food preservation, or cleaning, whether in a household, institutional, commercial or industrial setting. ...

Stainless steel

• cutlery

... Starch-polyester disposable cutlery Cutlery refers to any hand utensil used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food. ...

References

• Essays on geology, history, and people
• Early iron in China, Korea, and Japan
• Precursors of the blast furnace
• Early progress in the melting of iron
• Steel City founders
• Various articles on alloys in Historical Metallurgy 19(1) (1985).

See also

• Rolling (metalworking)
• Cold rolling
• Hot rolling
• Steel producers
• Steel mill
• Rolling mill
• Foundry
• Tinplate

profile rolling (to manufacture a cone) Rolling is a fabricating process in which the metal, plastic, paper, glass, etc. ... Rolling mill for cold rolling metal sheet like this piece of brass sheet. ... Hot rolling is a metallurgical process in which the metal is passed through a pair of rolls and the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, as opposed to cold rolling, which takes place below it. ... This is a list of the largest steel producers in the world Mittal Steel Company NV (International) Arcelor (Europe) [1] Nippon Steel (Japan) JFE (Japan) [2] POSCO (South Korea) [3] Corus (Europe) Thyssen-Krupp (Europe) Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation (China) Riva (Europe) Sumitomo (Japan) other producers United States Steel Corporation... A steel mill at the turn of the century in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania A steel mill (British English and Australian English steelworks) is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. ... A rolling mill is a machine or factory for shaping metal by passing it between rollers. ... This article is about the factory that makes castings of metal. ... Plating is the general name of surface-covering techniques in which a metal is coated onto a solid surface. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Steel

Look up Steel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Extensive picture gallery about all methods of making and shaping of iron and steel in North America and Europe. In German and English.
• Exhibition of Persian Steel
• International Iron & Steel Institute (IISI)
• Steel Alloys and Their Classification
• steeluniversity.org
• Quenched & Tempered Steel Alloys
• Quench hardening of steel
• CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS/2)
• Steel in 20th-century architecture
• Steel Heat Treating
• Scottish Steel Works History