Purification of iron and steels a continuous effort from 2000 BC to AD 2000

Abstract

The evolution of metal and alloys preparation has been directed, since the beginning of the history of metallurgy, towards (1) the research of better products -better properties, better reproducibility, larger production-, (2) the invention of new tools and machines for production -furnaces, blowing machines, hammers, pure oxygen, chemical analysis- and (3) the discovery of new scientific or empiric descriptions of matter. An important point is that new tools and machines were produced by using new iron and steels, and new scientific ideas, coming from technicians and workers gave a more precise description of what is meant by 'better' product. This continuous circle running from technical application to science and from scientific description to application has been effective from the beginning of metallurgy; without a new product there is no progress of science and without new scientific ideas there are no new products. Examples are taken in ancient and today metallurgy to show that the enormous effort starting 4000 years ago for iron production or more -6000 years- for copper is not finished. Today, it is as difficult as before to increase the purity of metals and alloys, because the overall purity has been increased. However, the new developments towards better alloys depend on new chemical or physical analysis methods and on the conception of new metallurgical processes, including new machines and new ideas, as in the ancient times.