Cast steel
From 1740, cast steel was a name for steel that was cast into semi-finished products during the manufacturing process and was later given its final shape by forming (especially forging ) and machining . Cast steel was thus primarily understood as a differentiation from cast iron , which could not be deformed, and wrought iron which could be forged but not cast using the puddling process . Wrought iron was not cast, but was created in the solid state by refining pig iron. Since wrought iron was replaced by modern steel and all steels have been cast since around 1950, the designation cast steel has become superfluous. The term cast steel, on the other hand, originally referred to the process of pouring liquid steel into molds that already contained the final shape (generally mold casting , also known as steel mold casting for steel ). Today, cast steel is understood to mean special types of steel that are particularly suitable for this process.
Benjamin Huntsman developed in 1740 in England to a process, the former cement steel in a crucible furnace remelting ( crucible steel ) and so it from its slag residues to liberate. The product was called cast steel , which in German-speaking countries became the word cast steel. Most of its production was exported to France, where it was called acier fondu (molten steel) rather than acier coulé (cast steel, the current name for cast steel).
With the introduction of the Bessemer process , the Thomas process based on it and the Siemens-Martin process between 1860 and 1880, which enabled the cost-effective production of cast steel and replaced the puddling process, the term cast steel fell out of use.