Iron & Steel Archives

Laval University From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi June, 2018 Iron & steel archives Fathi Habashi Available at: https://works.bepress.com/fathi_habashi/379/ Iron and Steel. Archives and Historians Fathi Habashi Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering Laval University, Quebec City, Canada [email protected] ABSTRACT The Hittites in Asia Minor are known to be the first to produce iron. The first ferrous material known from ancient times was the iron pillar of Delhi in the 4th century AD. In the Roman Empire iron was produced at Noricum the ancient name for southern Austria. Damascus steel became known at the time of Crusades in the 12th century. Understanding the nature of steel was the aim of many researchers of the 18th and 19th centuries when another mysterious ferrous material became available: iron meteorites. The role of Torbern Bergman in Uppsala in 1781 opened the way to understanding the nature of steel. Books were written afterwards on steelmaking by researchers and educators in Germany, Russia, USA, and England. The Eisen Bibliothek in Switzerland has a collection of iron and steel books. INTRODUCTION Although important books on nonferrous metallurgy were written in the 16th century by Georgius Agricola (1494-1555) and others yet those on ferrous metallurgy started more than a century and half later. There is no explanation for this fact except that the nature of steel and the role of carbon in iron were not known till the work of Torbern Bergman (1735-1784) in Uppsala in 1781. It is believed that iron was first produced by the Hittites in Anatolia around 2000 BC since then it became known all over the world. ANCIENT IRON AND STEEL Iron pillar of Delhi Kutub Minar (Figures 1,2) 15 km south of Delhi contains several ancient and medieval structures and ruins including tombs of the Moguls and Delhi Pillar. The pillar (Figure 3) dates back to the 4th century AD. Its has the Sanskrit inscriptions, “The triumphal pillar of Rajah Dhava, AD 310 who wrote his immortal fame with his sword” (Figure 4). The inscriptions on the pillar indicate that it was made during the time of Samandragupta (330 to 380 AD). The Guptas united and ruled northern India from 320 to 480 A.D. and gave India a glorious period of civilization. Their dynasty was a golden age of arts, literature, chemistry, and metallurgy. Students from all over Asia went to India to study; China and India maintained good relations. Figure 1- Kutub Minar and Iron Pillar Figure 2 - Kutub Minar Figure 3 - Another view of the Delhi Pillar Figure 4 - Delhi Pillar Figure 5 - Inscriptions on the pillar The pillar weighs seven tons, has a total height of 7.5 m of which one meter is underground; its largest diameter is 40 cm. It is nearly pure iron, containing 0.08% C, 0.11% P, 0.006% S, and traces of manganese and silicon). A committee from the Iron and Steel Institute of Britain inspected the pillar in 1872 and came to the conclusion that it was made by welding together lumps of iron about 36 kg each; these were heated to high temperature and forged by hammering manually as the water-driven hammer was not yet known in India. The weld lines can be clearly seen. The pillar was meant to be a pillar of victory and was first erected on Mount Vishnupada (probably at Mathura) as given in inscription. The place where the pillar stands today was a Hindu temple until the Arabs occupied it in the eighth century. It was King Anangapala II who removed the pillar to its present site around 1050 A.D. when he rebuilt the city of Delhi. Many of the ruins around the pillar also date back to Moslem Turks who invaded India in the twelfth century and built many mosques. The ruins also include tombs of the Moguls who invaded India from central Asia in sixteenth century. The Delhi pillar presents an indisputable and permanent record of the marvellous metallurgical skill and engineering ability of the ancient Indian workers. A stamp commemorating the pillar was issued by India in 1989 on the occasion of the World Philatelic Exhibition (Figure 6). According to Johannsen, the German historian of iron metallurgy, that "The Indians were the only non-European people who manufactured heavy forged pieces [of iron], and the pieces were of a size that the European smith did not learn to make until more than one thousand years later". Figure 6 - A stamp commemorating the Delhi pillar The Delhi pillar is not the only pillar of its type in India but it is believed to be the oldest, although it has resisted rusting unusually well and is still standing in good shape. The Dhar pillar which also weighs about seven tons was constructed in the twelfth century and is presently broken into three pieces. There is also the Achaleswar pillar built in the fourteenth century. ROMAN EMPIRE During the Roman Empire Noricum in the present Slovenia was the centre of iron making (Figure 7). Figure 7 - Noricum in the present Slovenia was the centre of iron making during the Roman Empire INDIAN WOOTZ AND DAMASCUS STEEL Swords that were exceptionally hard enough to retain a sharp cutting edge but also tough enough to absorb blows in combat without breaking became known to Europeans during the Christian Crusaders in the Orient in the 12th century. They became known as Damascus steels. Their name derives not from their place of origin but from the place where Europeans first encountered them during the Crusades. They may have been in use during the time of Alexander the Great about 323 BC when he invaded India where they were known as Wootz. They were widely traded by the Arabs in the form of cakes that were about the size of a hockey puck. The Arab Al-Edrisi in the 12th century commented that: “The Hindus excelled in the manufacture of iron and it is impossible to find anything to surpass the edge from Hinduwani or Indian steel”. The term Wootz was coined, when European travellers from the 17th century onwards came across the making of steel by crucible processes in Southern India in the present day states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. It was exported to the Arabs in Damascus where they made swords. They were also known in medieval Russia where they were called Bulat. They had characteristic wavy surface markings (Figure 8) and for centuries they remained objects of fascination for European smiths and scientists. The manufacture of the ancient Indian Wootz involved heating a mixture of iron ore and charcoal in a stone hearth, the product wrought iron, has a low carbon content. Small pieces of the metal were then mixed with charcoal in a sealed clay crucible about 7 cm in diameter and 15 cm tall and the crucible heated to a high temperature. Figure 8 - A pattern of Damascus steel RENÉ DE REAUMUR The first important books on the metallurgy of iron were written by the French scientist René Antoine Ferchault, Sieur de Réaumur (1683–1757) (Figure 9). These were L’art de convertir le fer forgé en acier et l’art d’adoucir le fer (Figure 10) which may be translated as the “Art of Converting Forged Iron into Steel and the Art of Rendering Cast Iron Ductile” and Nouvel Art d’adoucir le fer fondu (Figure 11). Figure 9 - René Antoine Figure 10 - The first book Figure 11 - The second book Ferchault, Sieur de Réaumur published by Reaumur in published by Reaumur in 1762 (1683–1757) 1722 The first book was published in Paris in 1722 and was translated in English in 1956. The other, was published by the French Academy of Sciences in 1762 few years after his death. De Réaumur came from a wealthy family so that he was able to devote himself to research. At 24 years old, he was chosen a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. He made many observations over a wide range of sciences. Nearly a century passed when other books on iron and steel became available. Réaumur was the first to suggest that cast iron contained carbon. This was confirmed by the Swedish chemist Torbern Olof Bergman (1735-1784) (Figure 12) in a thesis submitted by his student Johannes Gadolin (1760-1852) in 1781 at the University of Uppsala (Figure 13). In 1786 the French scientists C.A. Vandermonde, C.L. Berthollet, and G. Monge confirmed these findings. Figure 12 - Torbern Olof Figure 13 - Johannes Gadolin Bergman (1735-1784) (1760-1852) Figure 14 - Gadolin’s thesis Bergman was born in Katrineberg, Sweden became professor of chemistry at that University in 1767, then rector a few years later. He published about 50 memoirs and dissertations, all in Latin, on a variety of subjects dealing mainly with topics in inorganic chemistry and metallurgy. He had a number of distinguished students who contributed to the discovery or isolation of new metals. Gadolin was born in Abo in Finland which, at that time belonged to Sweden. He studied at the University of Abo and at Uppsala under Bergman. There he investigated steels, wrought iron, and cast irons and stated that their characteristic properties were related to their content of a black combustible material that remained after dissolving the metals in acid. The residue was called plumbago (the chief constituent of charcoal). The work was published in Latin as "Dissertio Chemica de Analysi Ferri" by Bergman and Gadolin in 1781 and was an important contribution to the understanding of steel (Figure 14).

Load more