Proofing steel
Refined steel , also Gerbstahl or refined steel is by Gärben of other steels manufactured steel with the aim of homogenisation at least the macroscopic properties.
properties
For example, a material with a medium carbon content can be produced from high-carbon and low-carbon steels by tanning them together. This also applies to steels with other alloy components .
Repeated tanning results in more and more uniform material, also through diffusion processes between the thinning layers of material.
It is easy to spot tanning when corrosion creates a striped pattern. This is done through the different alloy components of the individual tanned steels or rails, an older name for crude steel rods with a flat rectangular cross-section.
A mix possibility with puddle steel, wrought iron and racing iron , which usually also obtained with the tanning their last treatment to the semi-finished product to be. “Tanning” is usually a further processing of material from puddleing or racing fire . In principle, however, material from all extraction or processing processes can be turned into tanning. Often material residues were tanned together in order to produce usable semi-finished product sizes.
Comparison of damask and tanning
Damascus steel had its origins in "tanning", which was not so named at the time. The difference is that with damask, carbon-rich "hard" steel with soft "iron" (today structural steel or better known as pure iron , also called soft iron ) is fire-welded by a blacksmith and thus a pattern is created after the desired mixture has been achieved different alloyed steels. This pattern, comparable to a grain, can be controlled specifically by a blacksmith with great experience, if desired. The so-called wild damask is the steel that was invented more than 2500 years ago and was significantly more flexible and sharp than the "mono steels" of that time. These were the worm-colored swords from legends and historical letters.
If the historical blacksmiths had worked on the damask further (forging, folding , fire welding), the mixture would have resulted in a product that looks like tanning - albeit in a different quality. But that was not economical in view of the low yield of the racing kilns at the time.
Historically speaking, a pattern was not necessarily initially worked towards. It was simply more visible due to the different iron alloys in relation to tanning.
The multi-layer steels, which are still processed into swords ( katana ) in Japan , for example , are similar to tanning in European history. When it was possible to manufacture damascene steel with its patterns using various tanning steels in the 18th century, the simple variant made from tanning steel was less popular. The surfaces were then - according to European taste - as "boring" as Japanese blades despite their excellent properties.
literature
- Japing, Eduard: Iron and hardware. Practical guide to the knowledge of the representation methods and properties of iron, steel and goods from both . Part 1 The representation of iron and iron products . Chemical-technical library, volume 81. A. Hartleben, Vienna 1913.
- Peter Tunner: Bar iron and steel production in fresh stoves or the well-trained hammer master . Buchhandlung JG Engelhardt, Freiberg 1858, Volume 1: 279 p., Volume 2: 312 p.
- Manfred Sachse : Damascus steel. Myth. History. Technology. Application Stahleisen-Verlag 1993, ISBN 978-3-514-00520-4
- Proofing steel . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 6, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 902.
Individual evidence
- ↑ tanning. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . 16 volumes in 32 sub-volumes, 1854–1960. S. Hirzel, Leipzig ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).