AGE OF ALLEY STEEL

Shannon News, 1 June 1926, Page 4

AGE OF ALLEY STEEL

WONDERS OF MODEKJM METALLURGY. We are apt (writes Professor J. Arthur Thomson, in “John o’ London’s Weekly”) to be dazzled by the scientific achievements of the age in which we live, forgetful of the discoveries that were made before recorded history, in the stricter sense, takes up the tale. What of arithmetic and the alphabet, domestication and cultivation, the wheel and the sail, the calendar and the compass, and scores of other steps of progress? The Succession of Metals.

Latest returns make it apparfirsffc instance they'might be assisting instruments or weapons was copper, and its us e doubtless crept in gradually while most people were still fashioning stones. But, though copper was easily worked and could be hardened by hammering, it was not a metal that would cut much ice, as the Americans say.

In the fourth millennium 8.C., or even earlier, bronze was discovered, probably in Western Asia. It is well known to be an alloy of tin with copper (5.10 per cent, of tin), and its advantages are in being harder, easier to melt, and better for casting. It is the “brass” of the Old Testament; but true brass is a much later discovery, and an alloy of zinc with copper. By 2500 B.C. the use of bronze had reached Italy and Spain; about 1900 B.C. it had penetrated to Northern Europe. Professor Kroeber lays emphasis on two very irriportant facts —first, that the £,rt of fusing bronze spread in the Old World like a wave from a single centre of origin; and, second, thav its use was associated with the emergence of numerous inventions, such as the plough and the potter’s wheel, the sword and the safety-pin.

After Bronze. ( After bronze had done duty for 2000 years man began to work in iron. A new age dawned. At first the iron was wrought by the smith, and remained relatively soft; but as the denturies passed the iron was “tempered” into steel by plunging the hammered instrument into water. It is uncertain who should get the credit of discovering the workability of iron, but the honour probably belongs to some people in Western Asia, such as the Hittites. It was not till about 500 B.C. that the use began to be common in Northern Europe. This brings us within hail of home, and we now wish to notice a very fine book that has just appeared—Sir Robert A. Hadficld’s “Metallurgy,” a fascinating story of the influence of metals on modern progress. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of iron. As Sir Robert Hadfield says: “Take away silver and gold, and they would not be greatly missed; but take away iron, and we should revert to the conditions of the .Dark Ages. There is a fine ring of appreciation in Tennyson’s well-known linos:—

For life is not as idle ore, But iron dug from central gloom, And heated hot with burning fears, • And dipt in baths of hissing tears. And battered by the shocks of doom To shape and use. But the interesting modern fact is this: that just as bronze replaced copper, so “we are passing out of BRISBANE, May 9. were to impose compulsion in the The first metal to be worked for ■the age of iron and simple steel, and have advanced into an era which may be justly termed an age of alloy steels; and -without the use of such steels it is certain that, modern civilisation could not be carried on.” This is the burden of Sir Robert Hadfield’s very interesting and generously illustrated book, all the more valuable since the author has been intimately associated with the importance changes which de describes. Well might he say: “Quorum pars magna fui.” IniDOrtance of New Steels. Even simple steel is a sort of alloy, for there is up to 1.5 per cent, or so of carbon, which influences the properties of the iron; but the term “alloy steel” or “special steel” is usually reserved for alloys like manganese steel, silicon steel, high-speed tool steel and rust-resisting- steel. Everyone knows the “stainless steel” knives, which contain about 13 per cent, of chromium; and it is plain that a relative novelty of this sort will be of importance not only in connection with cutlery and golf “irons,” but in the construction of hydraulic pumps and submarines. Manganese steel has hard-wearing toughness, silicon steel, used in electric generators and motors, has wonderful energy-saving properties; tungsten steel and cobalt steel have special magnetic virtues and arc used for permanent magnets; manganese steel serves well when nonmagnetic material is required; the nickel-iron alloy called “permalloy” has extraordinarily high permeability at low induction. There are strong and tough steels for low temperatures, and non-scaling steels for high temperatures. Improvements are often limited by lack of suitable material, but man can now make his material to suit special needs. It is a wondrfuT story that this book on modern metallurgy has to tell, and we cannot but share Sir Robert Hadfield’s obvious enthusiasm. "According to requirements it is possible, by the use of alloy steels, to reduce the weight of parts whilst retaining or increasing their strength; to obtain strength combined with special ductility, hardness, or resistance to fatigue; and, in fact, to obtain or accentuate almost any desired physical property.” What a sequel

to tlic tentalives of the Hittites or Chalybes or Philistines, who first tempered iron into steel! What a fulfilment of Glanvill’s prophecy of 1650: “Iron seemeth a simple metal, but in its nature are many mysteries; and men who bend to them their minds shall, in arriving l days, gather therefrom great profit, not to themselves alone, but to all mankind!’’ So let us be thankful to the men who arc making the alloy steels.'