Steel is an alloy that is made by combining iron with a number of other elements, usually carbon. It is one of the most common metals in the world and can be found in a huge number of everyday objects. Steel is used in the manufacture of automobiles, buildings and ships and is often used to make tools. Steel is strong and durable but can also withstand a certain amount of tension. It is also better than other metals at holding a sharp edge. Today 1.3 billion tons of steel is produced annually and is usually made using a blast furnace. Many people think that steel is something of a fairly modern invention - a process that was only invented and refined in the past few centuries. This viewpoint, however, is only half right. The process of steelmaking was improved upon in the last few centuries to make it easily mass producible. However, the invention of steel goes much farther back in history than you might expect.
Humans have been working with iron for thousands of years; this is hardly surprising as it is one of the most abundant elements on Earth. Production of iron probably started around 2000 BC; where previously bronze had been the main hard material used to produce tools and implements (i.e. the Bronze Age). Gradually the production of iron began to overtake the use of bronze. This was mainly because iron was harder, and therefore more useful, than bronze and could hold a sharper edge better. These properties made iron a much better choice to make tools and implements out of and its popularity grew through what we now know as the Iron Age.
Different types of iron have different amounts of carbon in which gives them different properties. Wrought iron has only a little carbon in it (only around 0.02 per cent) which makes it more malleable but not as strong. Cast iron has much more carbon in (around 3-4.5 per cent) and as a result is much stronger but far less malleable - it is almost brittle. Steel comes somewhere in between the two. Steel usually only has between 0.2 and 1.5 per cent carbon in it and is harder than wrought iron but more flexible than cast iron.
Steel production was made more efficient around the 17th century and production was made more inexpensive in the 19th century due to various developments in the process. Though steel did not really take off until the Early Modern period when it could be mass produced, it was being made hundreds of years before this time by people with much less sophisticated technology. One of the earliest examples of steel was found in Anatolia and was dated as being 4,000 years old. Other very early examples include steel dating to 1400 BC found in East Africa most likely made by the Haya people in an early kind of blast furnace.
The most famous of kinds of early steel are wootz and Damascus steel - their fame is possibly down to the air of mystery that surrounds them. Wootz steel was made as early as 300 BC in India and Sri Lanka using a wind furnace that utilised the power of the monsoon winds. Damascus steel was a similar form of steel that many historians believe was made from ingots of wootz steel that had been brought to the Middle East by Indian traders. Damascus steel was widely regarded for its advanced properties and legends grew up around it that it was so sharp and strong that could slice through a rifle barrel. The processes used to make wootz steel and Damascus steel were used for centuries until the methods were lost prior to the 18th century. Many historians have attempted to research the process and many experimental archaeologists have tried to recreate the steel to mostly no avail. The original techniques for these types of steel have been lost for centuries.
It may be surprising to think that steel was produced so early on in history. Though wootz steel and Damascus steel may be the most well-known among metallurgists and historians, there were many other countries making steel at a similar time. The Romans used Noric steel in their weaponry which was well-known for its strength. The Iberian Peninsula also produced steel weapons around the 4th century BC while the Chinese used quench hardened steel throughout the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. By the 1st century AD the Chinese had also created carbon-intermediate steel by melting wrought iron with cast iron. Steel production was made more efficient in the 17th century through the smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace. It was also made easier to mass-produce in the 19th century through the introduction of the Bessemer process. These changes and improvements did go some way to revolutionising steel production but the history of steel goes much further back in history than many may think.
© Izzy Evans 2012
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