Page 1 of 3
BLISTER STEEL
Blister steel is steel made from low carbon iron in cementation furnaces. This was the first form of steel made, predating cast steel (which was made by the crucible method) and the Bessemer converter method.
Blister steel was sometimes called shear steel because shears were made from it. It was made in England by layering iron from Sweden (they had purer iron than England could make) with carbon. The pile of iron and carbon was brought to a high temperature and kept there for many hours. The carbon was absorbed by the iron and steel resulted. The ‘blisters’ were produced by expanding gas which showed up as bubbles on the surface of the product.
There are still examples of blister steel in Sheffield, England.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
