A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay , they can be made from any material that withstands temperatures high enough to melt or otherwise alter its contents.
132-492: The form of the crucible has varied through time, with designs reflecting the process for which they are used, as well as regional variation. The earliest crucible forms derive from the sixth/fifth millennium B.C. in Eastern Europe and Iran . Crucibles used for copper smelting were generally wide shallow vessels made from clay that lacks refractory properties which is similar to the types of clay used in other ceramics of
264-498: A crucible . Crucible steel was first developed in the middle of the 1st millennium BCE in Southern India and Sri Lanka using the wootz process. In ancient times, it was not possible to produce very high temperatures with charcoal or coal fires, which were required to melt iron or steel. However, pig iron, having a higher carbon content and thus a lower melting point, could be melted, and by soaking wrought iron or steel in
396-429: A "fuzzy" term, as the idea itself of Eastern Europe is in constant redefinition. The solidification of the idea of an "Eastern Europe" dates back chiefly to the (French) Enlightenment . There are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region". A related United Nations paper adds that "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct ". While
528-462: A better steel for clock springs. In Handsworth near Sheffield , he began producing steel in 1740 after years of experimenting in secret. Huntsman's system used a coke -fired furnace capable of reaching 1,600 °C, into which up to twelve clay crucibles, each capable of holding about 15 kg of iron, were placed. When the crucibles or "pots" were white-hot, they were charged with lumps of blister steel , an alloy of iron and carbon produced by
660-446: A chemical analysis method can be collected or filtered from some sample or solution on special "ashless" filter paper . The crucible and lid to be used are pre-weighed very accurately on an analytical balance . After some possible washing and/or pre-drying of this filtrate , the residue on the filter paper can be placed in the crucible and fired (heated at very high temperature) until all the volatiles and moisture are driven out of
792-399: A coin or a weight of metal to determine the amount of the noble metals within the object. Crucible is used in the laboratory to contain chemical compounds when heated to extremely high temperatures . Crucibles are available in several sizes and typically come with a correspondingly-sized lid . When heated over a flame, the crucible is often held inside a pipeclay triangle which itself
924-413: A delicately intermediate carbon fraction, and its material properties range according to the carbon percentage: high carbon steel is stronger but more brittle than low carbon steel . Crucible steel sequesters the raw input materials from the heat source, allowing precise control of carburization (raising) or decarburization (lowering carbon content). Fluxes , such as limestone , could be added to
1056-536: A fabric tube. These crucibles were used in the same way as other cementation vessels but with a hole in the top of the vessel to allow pressure to escape. At the end of the Medieval Era and into the Post-Medieval Era, new types of crucible designs and processes started. Smelting and melting crucibles types started to become more limited in designs which are produced by a few specialists. The main types used during
1188-899: A geopolitical concept that became known as the Eastern Bloc . This consisted of: With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the political landscape of the Eastern Bloc , and indeed the world, changed. In the German reunification , the Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic in 1990. In 1991, COMECON , the Warsaw Pact , and the Soviet Union were dissolved. Many European nations that had been part of
1320-506: A gradualist manner, backed by the Soviets in many, but not all, cases. For a while, cooperative non-Communist parties were tolerated. The Communist governments nationalized private businesses, placing them under state ownership, and monitored the media and churches. When dividing up government offices with coalition partners, the Communists took control of the interior ministries, which controlled
1452-476: A lower-carbon steel (formerly the wrought iron). This often resulted in an intricate pattern when the steel was forged, filed or polished, with possibly the most well-known examples coming from the wootz steel used in Damascus swords . The steel was often much higher in carbon content (typically ranging in the area of 1.5 to 2.0%) and in quality (lacking impurities) in comparison with other methods of steel production of
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#17328521881241584-587: A means of efficiently changing excess wrought iron into useful steel. Huntsman's process greatly increased the European output of quality steel suitable for use in items like knives, tools, and machinery, helping to pave the way for the Industrial Revolution . Iron alloys are most broadly divided by their carbon content: cast iron has 2–4% carbon impurities; wrought iron oxidizes away most of its carbon, to less than 0.1%. The much more valuable steel has
1716-434: A monopoly on managing and implementing a state's or federation's monetary policy. Besides monetary policy, some of them even perform the supervision of the financial intermediary system. In the case of a price stability function, the inflation rate, in the examined area, relatively quickly dropped to below 5% by 2000. In monetary policy the differences are based on the euro-zone: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia use
1848-463: A more conical shape; these were heated from below, unlike prehistoric types which were irregular in shape and were heated from above. These designs gave greater stability within the charcoal. These crucibles in some cases have thinner walls and have more refractory properties. During the Roman period a new process of metalworking started, cementation , used in the production of brass . This process involves
1980-455: A relatively high standard of living . This period is also called the east-central European golden age of around 1600. At the beginning of the 17th century, numeracy levels in eastern Europe were relatively low, although regional differences existed. During the 18th century, the regions began to catch up with western Europe, but did not develop as rapidly. Areas with stronger female autonomy developed more quickly in terms of numeracy. Serfdom
2112-546: A rich history of crucible steel production, beginning during the late 1st millennium CE. From the sites in modern Uzbekistan and Merv in Turkmenistan, there is good archaeological evidence for the large scale production of crucible steel. They all belong in broad terms to the same early medieval period between the late 8th or early 9th and the late 12th century CE, contemporary with the early crusades . The two most prominent crucible steel sites in eastern Uzbekistan carrying
2244-482: A separate chapter deals with public finances. Generally, they soon encountered the following problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth, and high government debt. By 2000 these economies were stabilized, and between 2004 and 2013 all of them joined the European Union. Most of the constitutions define directly or indirectly the economic system of the countries parallel to the democratic transition of
2376-563: A variation of the wootz process, after the location of the process documented by Voysey in the 1820s. The production of crucible steel in China began around the first century BC, or possibly earlier. The Chinese developed a method of producing pig iron around 1200 BC, which they used to make cast iron . By the first century BC, they had developed puddling to produce mild steel and a process of rapidly decarburizing molten cast-iron to make wrought iron by stirring it atop beds of saltpeter (called
2508-504: A very hard edge, but the lower-carbon steel helped to increase the toughness, helping to decrease the chance of chipping, cracking, or breaking. In Europe, crucible steel was developed by Benjamin Huntsman in England in the 18th century. Huntsman used coke rather than coal or charcoal, achieving temperatures high enough to melt steel and dissolve iron. Huntsman's process differed from some of
2640-559: Is a subregion of the European continent . As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains , whilst its western boundary is defined in various ways. Most definitions include the countries of Belarus , Russia , Ukraine , Moldova , and Romania while less restrictive definitions may also include some or all of
2772-426: Is held on top of a tripod. Crucibles and their covers are made of high temperature-resistant materials, usually porcelain , alumina or an inert metal . One of the earliest uses of platinum was to make crucibles. Ceramics such as alumina , zirconia , and especially magnesia will tolerate the highest temperatures. However chemical reactions with the material in the crucible have to be considered, specifically
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#17328521881242904-527: Is nearly 44%, but the deviation is great because the lowest figure is close to 10% but the highest is 97%. The trend shows that the sovereign debt ratio to GDP in most countries has been rising. Only three countries are affected by high government debt: Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia (over 70% of the GDP), while Slovakia and Poland fulfill the Maastricht requirement but only 10% below the threshold. The contribution to cover
3036-563: Is not a strict determinant for Eastern Europe, where from Croatia to Poland and everywhere in between, the Latin alphabet is used. Greece's status as the cradle of Western civilization and an integral part of the Western world in the political, cultural and economic spheres has led to it being nearly always classified as belonging not to Eastern, but Southern or Western Europe. During the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries, Eastern Europe enjoyed
3168-558: Is overwhelmingly Orthodox, but is very rarely included in "Eastern Europe", for a variety of reasons, the most prominent being that Greece's history, for the most part, was more influenced by Mediterranean cultures and dynamics. The fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the Cold War east–west division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by
3300-586: Is predominantly Armenian Apostolic . The Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe . To a lesser degree, forms of Eastern Protestantism and Eastern Catholicism have also been influential in Eastern Europe. Countries where Eastern Protestantism or Eastern Catholicism hold historical significance include Belarus, Croatia , Greece, Hungary , Lithuania , Poland , Romania, Russia, Slovakia , Slovenia and Ukraine. The schism refers to
3432-411: Is sometimes used for a more neutral grouping. Several definitions of Eastern Europe exist in the early 21st century, but they often lack precision and may be anachronistic. These definitions are debated across cultures and among experts, even political scientists , as the term has a wide range of geopolitical , geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic connotations. It has also been described as
3564-757: The Achaemenid Persian , Parthian , and Sassanid Persian Empires. Parts of the Balkans and some more northern areas were ruled by the Achaemenid Persians as well, including Thrace , Paeonia , Macedon , and most of the Black Sea coastal regions of Romania , Ukraine , and Russia . Owing to the rivalry between the Parthian Empire and Rome , and later between Byzantium and the Sassanid Persians ,
3696-757: The Balkans , the Baltic states , the Caucasus , and the Visegrád group . The region represents a significant part of European culture ; the main socio-cultural characteristics of Eastern Europe have historically been defined by the traditions of the East Slavs and Greeks , as well as by the influence of Eastern Christianity as it developed through the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire . Another definition
3828-522: The Bronze Age with copper and tin smelting being used to produce bronze . The Iron Age crucible designs remain the same as the Bronze Age. The Roman period shows technical innovations, with crucibles for new methods used to produce new alloys. The smelting and melting process also changed with both the heating technique and the crucible design. The crucible changed into rounded or pointed bottom vessels with
3960-592: The Central and Eastern European member states, including the Baltic states , that accessed in 2004 and after: in 2004 the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic; in 2007 Bulgaria, Romania; and in 2013 Croatia. The economic changes were in harmony with the constitutional reforms: constitutional provisions on public finances can be identified and, in some countries,
4092-662: The East–West Schism of 1054, significant parts of Eastern Europe developed cultural unity and resistance to Catholic Western and Central Europe within the framework of the Eastern Orthodox Church , Church Slavonic language and the Cyrillic alphabet . The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) was formed by Alcuin of York during the Carolingian Renaissance of
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4224-703: The European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia and Armenia are seeking EU membership, with Georgia also seeking NATO membership alongside. There are two de facto republics with limited recognition in the South Caucasus region that exist under the presence of Russian military. Both states participate in the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations : Former republics with limited recognition: Some European republics of
4356-520: The Heaton process , it was independently discovered by John Heaton in the 1860s). Around this time, the Chinese began producing crucible steel to convert excess quantities of cast iron and wrought iron into steel suitable for swords and weapons. In 1064, Shen Kuo , in his book Dream Pool Essays , gave the earliest written description of the patterns in the steel, the methods of sword production, and some of
4488-566: The New World . The refining of methods during the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods led to the invention of the cupel which resembles a small egg cup, made of ceramic or bone ash which was used to separate base metals from noble metals. This process is known as cupellation . Cupellation started long before the Post Medieval period, however, the first vessels made to carry out this process started in
4620-704: The Nordic-Baltic Eight regional cooperation forum whereas Central European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group . The Northern Future Forum , the Nordic Investment Bank , the Nordic Battlegroup , the Nordic-Baltic Eight and the New Hanseatic League are other examples of Northern European cooperation that includes the three countries collectively referred to as
4752-442: The cementation process , and a flux to help remove impurities. The pots were removed after about 3 hours in the furnace, impurities in the form of slag skimmed off, and the molten steel poured into moulds to end up as cast ingots . Complete melting of the steel produced a highly uniform crystal structure upon cooling, which gave the metal increased tensile strength and hardness in comparison with other steels being made at
4884-668: The 'pine tree design'. If you cook a fish fully and remove its bones, the shape of its guts will be seen to be like the lines on a 'snake-coiling sword'. The first European references to crucible steel seem to be no earlier than the Post Medieval period. European experiments with “ Damascus ” steels go back to at least the sixteenth century, but it was not until the 1790s that laboratory researchers began to work with steels that were specifically known to be Indian/wootz. At this time, Europeans knew of India's ability to make crucible steel from reports brought back by travellers who had observed
5016-428: The 16th Century. Another vessel used for the same process is a scorifier which is similar to a cupel but slightly larger and removes the lead and leaves the noble metals behind. Cupels and scorifiers were mass-produced as after each reduction the vessels would have absorbed all of the lead and become fully saturated. These vessels were also used in the process of metallurgical assay where the noble metals are removed from
5148-406: The 1920s, but all of them (except Czechoslovakia and Finland) gave up democracy during the depression years of the 1930s, in favor of autocratic, strong-man or single-party states. The new states were unable to form stable military alliances, and one by one were too weak to stand up against Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, which took them over between 1938 and 1945. Russia ended its participation in
5280-408: The 1990s: free-market economy (sometimes complemented with the socially [and ecologically] oriented sector), economic development, or only economic rights are included as a ground for the economy. In the case of fiscal policy, the legislative, the executive and other state organs (Budget Council, Economic and Social Council) define and manage the budgeting. The average government debt in the countries
5412-574: The 3rd century CE, particularly in Scandinavia . Swords bearing the brand name Ulfberht , and dating to a 200-year period from the 9th century to the early 11th century, are prime examples of the technique. It is speculated by many that the process of making these blades originated in the Middle East and subsequently had been traded during the Volga Trade Route days. In the first centuries of
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5544-713: The 5th century, marking the start of the Early Middle Ages . By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire—the Byzantine Empire —had a survival strategy that kept it alive for another 1,000 years. The rise of the Frankish Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism that formally divided Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054, heightened the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. Much of Eastern Europe
5676-532: The 9th century, limited to the territories that practised Western Christianity at the time. "European" as a cultural term did not include many of the territories under the influence of Eastern Christianity until the early nineteenth century. A large section of Eastern Europe is formed by countries with dominant Orthodox churches, like Belarus , Bulgaria , Cyprus , Georgia , Greece , Moldova , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Romania , Russia , Serbia , and Ukraine , for instance, as well as Armenia , which
5808-713: The Baltic states. The South Caucasus nations of Armenia , Azerbaijan , and Georgia are included in definitions or histories of Eastern Europe. They are located in the transition zone of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. They participate in the European Union 's Eastern Partnership program, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly , and are members of the Council of Europe , which specifies that all three have political and cultural connections to Europe. In January 2002,
5940-555: The Cold War Era. The following countries are labelled Southeast European by some commentators, though others still consider them to be Eastern European. Partially recognized states : Despite being frequently classified as a Central Asian country, about 4% of Kazakhstan 's territory, situated west of the Ural River , geographically lies in Eastern Europe, thus technically making it a transcontinental country . Ancient kingdoms of
6072-611: The Ferghana Process are Akhsiket and Pap in the Ferghana Valley, whose position within the Great Silk Road has been historically and archaeologically proved. The material evidence consists of large number of archaeological finds relating to steel making from 9th–12th centuries CE in the form of hundreds of thousands of fragments of crucibles, often with massive slag cakes. Archaeological work at Akhsiket, has identified that
6204-723: The First World War in March 1918 and lost territory, as the Baltic countries and Poland became independent. The region was the main battlefield in the Second World War (1939–45), with German and Soviet armies sweeping back and forth, with millions of Jews and others killed by the Nazis in the Generalplan Ost , and millions of others killed by disease, starvation, and military action, or executed after being deemed as politically dangerous. During
6336-620: The First World War was the breakup of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, as well as partial losses to the German Empire. A surge of ethnic nationalism created a series of new states in Eastern Europe, validated by the Versailles Treaty of 1919 . Poland was reconstituted after the partitions of the 1790s had divided it between Germany, Austria, and Russia. New countries included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine (which
6468-561: The Indian/Sri Lankan material is as early as 300 BCE. India's iron ore had trace vanadium and other alloying elements leading to increased hardenability in Indian crucible steel which was famous throughout the middle east for its ability to retain an edge. While crucible steel is more attributed to the Middle East in early times, pattern welded swords, incorporating high-carbon, and likely crucible steel, have been discovered in Europe, from
6600-599: The Islamic period, some scientific studies on swords and steel appeared. The best known of these are by Jabir ibn Hayyan 8th century, al-Kindi 9th century, Al-Biruni in the early 11th century, al-Tarsusi in the late 12th century, and Fakhr-i-Mudabbir 13th century. Any of these contains far more information about Indian and damascene steels than appears in the entire surviving literature of classical Greece and Rome . There are many ethnographic accounts of Indian crucible steel production; however, scientific investigations of
6732-591: The Parthians would invade the region several times, although it was never able to hold the area, unlike the Sassanids who controlled most of the Caucasus during their entire rule. The earliest known distinctions between east and west in Europe originate in the history of the Roman Republic . As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared. The mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces had formed
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#17328521881246864-668: The Post Medieval period are the Hessian crucibles which were made in the Hesse region in Germany. These are triangular vessels made on a wheel or within a mold using high alumina clay and tempered with pure quartz sand. Furthermore, another specialized crucible which was made at the same time was that of a graphite crucible from southern Germany. These had a very similar design to that of the triangular crucibles from Hesse but they also occur in conical forms. These crucibles were traded all across Europe and
6996-486: The Soviet Union declared or regained their independence ( Belarus , Moldova , Ukraine , as well as the Baltic States of Latvia , Lithuania , and Estonia ). Czechoslovakia peacefully separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Many countries of this region joined the European Union , namely Bulgaria , the Czech Republic , Croatia , Estonia, Hungary , Latvia, Lithuania, Poland , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia . The term "EU11 countries" refer to
7128-402: The Soviet army. It included the German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany), formed by the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. All the countries in Eastern Europe adopted communist modes of control by 1948. These countries were officially independent of the Soviet Union, but the practical extent of this independence was quite limited. Yugoslavia and Albania had Communist control that
7260-524: The U.S. dollar shows that drastic interventions were not necessary. National wealth or assets are the property of the state or local governments and, as an exclusive property, the management and protection of them aim at serving the public interest. 50°N 30°E / 50°N 30°E / 50; 30 Crucible steel Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron ( cast iron ), iron , and sometimes steel , often along with sand , glass , ashes , and other fluxes , in
7392-586: The United States in the 1880s, iron and carbon were melted together directly to produce crucible steel. Throughout the 19th century and into the 1920s a large amount of crucible steel was directed into the production of cutting tools , where it was called tool steel . The crucible process continued to be used for specialty steels, but is today obsolete. Similar quality steels are now made with an electric arc furnace . Some uses of tool steel were displaced, first by high-speed steel and later by materials such as tungsten carbide . Another form of crucible steel
7524-442: The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. Emancipation meant that the ex-serfs paid for their freedom with annual cash payments to their former masters for decades. The system varied widely country by country, and was not as standardized as in Western Europe. Historians, until the 20th century, focused on master-serf economic and labor relations, portraying the serfs as slave-like, passive, and isolated. 20th century scholars downplayed
7656-446: The candidate countries Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia as Central and Eastern European . UNESCO , EuroVoc , National Geographic Society , Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography , and the STW Thesaurus for Economics place the Baltic states in Northern Europe , whereas the CIA World Factbook places the region in Eastern Europe with a strong assimilation to Northern Europe . They are members of
7788-412: The carbon to dissolve evenly into the liquid steel and negating the prior need for extensive blacksmithing in an attempt to achieve the same result. Similarly, it allowed steel to be cast by pouring into molds. The use of fluxes allowed nearly complete extraction of impurities from the liquid, which could then simply float to the top for removal. This produced the first steel of modern quality, providing
7920-428: The carbon, a variety of organic materials are specified by the contemporary Islamic authorities, including pomegranate rinds, acorns, fruit skins like orange peel, leaves as well as the white of egg and shells. Slivers of wood are mentioned in some of the Indian sources, but significantly none of the sources mention charcoal. Crucible steel is generally attributed to production centres in India and Sri Lanka where it
8052-560: The cast iron. The third method uses wrought iron and cast iron. In this process, wrought iron and cast iron may be heated together in a crucible to produce steel by fusion. In regard to this method Abu Rayhan Biruni states: "this was the method used in Hearth". It is proposed that the Indian method refers to Wootz carburization method; i.e., the Mysore or Tamil processes. Variations of co-fusion process have been found primarily in Persia and Central Asia but have also been found in Hyderabad, India called Deccani or Hyderabad process. For
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#17328521881248184-414: The cementation process, the production of crucible steel . Steel production using iron and carbon works similarly to brass, with the iron metal being mixed with carbon to produce steel. The first examples of cementation steel are wootz steel from India, where the crucibles were filled with good quality low-carbon wrought iron and carbon in the form of organics such as leaves, wood, etc. However, no charcoal
8316-438: The combination of a metal and a gas to produce an alloy. Brass is made by mixing solid copper metal with zinc oxide or carbonate which comes in the form of calamine or smithsonite . This is heated to about 900 °C, the zinc oxide vaporizes into a gas, and the zinc gas bonds with the molten copper. This reaction has to take place in a part-closed or closed container otherwise the zinc vapor would escape before it can react with
8448-487: The common currency. The economies of this decade – similar to the previous one – show a moderate inflation. As a new phenomenon, a slight negative inflation (deflation) appeared in this decade in several countries (Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia), which demonstrates sensitivity regarding international developments. The majority of the constitutions determine the national currency, legal tender or monetary unit. The local currency exchange rate to
8580-426: The copper. Cementation crucibles, therefore, have a lid or cap which limits the amount of gas loss from the crucible. The crucible design is similar to the smelting and melting crucibles of the period utilizing the same material as the smelting and melting crucibles. The conical shape and smallmouth allowed the lid to be added. These small crucibles are seen in Colonia Ulpia Trajana (modern-day Xanten ), Germany, where
8712-482: The crucible is handled with clean tongs because fingerprints can add a weighable mass to the crucible. Porcelain crucibles are hygroscopic , i. e. they absorb a bit of weighable moisture from the air. For this reason, the porcelain crucible and lid is also pre-fired (pre-heating to high temperature) to constant mass before the pre-weighing. This determines the mass of the completely dry crucible and lid. At least two firings, coolings, and weighings resulting in exactly
8844-426: The crucible pots and annealing furnaces to prepare each pot before firing. Ancillary rooms for weighing each charge and for the manufacture of the clay crucibles were either attached to the workshop, or located within the cellar complex. The steel, originally intended for making clock springs, was later used in other applications such as scissors, axes and swords. Sheffield's Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet operates for
8976-464: The crucible steel process was of the carburization of iron metal. This process appears to be typical of and restricted to the Ferghana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan, and it is therefore called the Ferghana Process. This process lasted in that region for roughly four centuries.. Evidence of the production of crucible steel have been found in Merv, Turkmenistan, a major city on the 'Silk Road'. The Islamic scholar al-Kindi (801–866 CE) mentions that during
9108-404: The crucible to remove or promote sulfur , silicon , and other impurities, further altering its material qualities. Various methods were used to produce crucible steel. According to Islamic texts such as al-Tarsusi and Abu Rayhan Biruni , three methods are described for indirect production of steel. The medieval Islamic historian Abu Rayhan Biruni (c. 973–1050) provides the earliest reference of
9240-415: The crucibles are around 4 cm in size, however, these are small examples. There are examples of larger vessels such as cooking pots and amphorae being used for cementation to process larger amounts of brass; since the reaction takes place at low temperatures lower fired ceramics could be used. The ceramic vessels which are used are important as the vessel must be able to lose gas through the walls otherwise
9372-413: The crucibles are sometimes disposed of after use in precise quantitative chemical analysis. There is usually a large mark-up when they are sold individually in hobby shops . In the area of chemical analysis, crucibles are used in quantitative gravimetric chemical analysis (analysis by measuring mass of an analyte or its derivative). Common crucible use may be as follows. A residue or precipitate in
9504-514: The eastern geographical boundaries of Europe are well defined, the boundary between Eastern and Western Europe is not geographical but historical, religious and cultural, and is harder to designate. The Ural Mountains , Ural River , and the Caucasus Mountains are the geographical land border of the eastern edge of Europe. E.g. Kazakhstan , which is mainly located in Central Asia with
9636-625: The emergance of melting point lowering Eutectic systems are important. the More recently, metals such as nickel and zirconium have been used. The lids are typically loose-fitting to allow gases to escape during the heating of a sample inside. Crucibles and their lids can come in high form and low form shapes and in various sizes, but rather small 10 to 15 ml size porcelain crucibles are commonly used for gravimetric chemical analysis . These small-size crucibles and their covers made of porcelain are quite cheap when sold in quantity to laboratories, and
9768-456: The empty, pre-weighed crucible and lid is subtracted from this result to yield the mass of the completely dried residue in the crucible. A crucible with a bottom perforated with small holes which are designed specifically for use in filtration, especially for gravimetric analysis as just described, is called a Gooch crucible after its inventor, Frank Austin Gooch . For completely accurate results,
9900-801: The establishment of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 1596. However, the concept of Eastern Catholicism itself predates this. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Catholic (and later additionally Protestant ) churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian (often incorrectly labelled "Greek Orthodox") churches in the east. Due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic; for example, Greece
10032-544: The evils and emphasize the complexities. Before 1870, the industrialization that had started to develop in Northwestern and Central Europe and the United States did not extend in any significant way to the rest of the world. Even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia , for example, remained largely rural and agricultural, and its autocratic rulers kept the peasants in serfdom. A major result of
10164-565: The fall of the Berlin Wall, continued to feel a moral duty to support states that have not been "liberated from the tyranny of capitalism". This shared duty collapsed when most of the former Soviet satellites abandoned socialism and adopted capitalism. EuroVoc , a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union , classifies Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, plus
10296-587: The final stages of World War II the future of Eastern Europe was decided by the overwhelming power of the Soviet Red Army, as it swept the Germans aside. It did not reach Yugoslavia and Albania, however. Finland was free but forced to be neutral in the upcoming Cold War. Throughout Eastern Europe, German-speaking populations were expelled to the reduced borders of Germany in one of the largest ethnic cleansing operations in history. Regions where Germans had formed
10428-519: The finances for common needs is declared, the principle of just tax burden-sharing is supplemented sometimes with special aspects. Tax revenues expose typically 15–19 % of the GDP, and rates above 20% only rarely can be found. The state audit of the government budget and expenditures is an essential control element in public finances and an important part of the concept of checks and balances. The central banks are independent state institutions, which possess
10560-403: The first to use the word "wootz" in print. Another investigator, David Mushet , was able to infer that wootz was made by fusion. David Mushet patented his process in 1800. He made his report in 1805. As it happens, however, the first successful European process had been developed by Benjamin Huntsman some 50 years previously in the 1740s. Benjamin Huntsman was a clockmaker in search of
10692-1137: The former Soviet Union are considered a part of Eastern Europe: Unrecognized states : The term "Central Europe" is often used by historians to designate states formerly belonging to the Holy Roman Empire , the Habsburg Empire , and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In some media, "Central Europe" can thus partially overlap with "Eastern Europe" of the Cold War Era. The following countries are labelled Central European by some commentators, though others still consider them to be Eastern European. Some countries in Southeast Europe can be considered part of Eastern Europe. Some of them can sometimes, albeit rarely, be characterized as belonging to Southern Europe , and some may also be included in Central Europe . In some media, "Southeast Europe" can thus partially overlap with "Eastern Europe" of
10824-418: The full diffusion of carbon throughout the liquid. With the use of fluxes it also allowed the removal of most impurities, producing the first steel of modern quality. Due to carbon's high melting point (nearly triple that of steel) and its tendency to oxidize (burn) at high temperatures, it cannot usually be added directly to molten steel. However, by adding wrought iron or pig iron, allowing it to dissolve into
10956-412: The furnaces. The technology for this type of smelting started to change at the end of the Medieval period with the introduction of new tempering material for the ceramic crucibles. Some of these copper alloy crucibles were used in the making of bells. Bell foundry crucibles had to be larger at about 60 cm. These later medieval crucibles were a more mass-produced product. The cementation process, which
11088-566: The geopolitical impact of the "iron curtain": From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe: Warsaw , Berlin , Prague , Vienna , Budapest , Belgrade , Bucharest , and Sofia . Eastern Europe after 1945 usually meant all the European countries liberated from Nazi Germany and then occupied by
11220-567: The highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization . In contrast, the western territories largely adopted the Latin language . This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of the Roman Empire . The division between these two spheres deepened during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages due to a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in
11352-476: The historical break of communion and theology between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches. Later developments meant that the divide was no longer solely between Catholic and Orthodox churches. From the 16th century, both Western and Eastern forms of Protestantism began to emerge in Europe. Additionally, Eastern Catholic Churches began to spread in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, following
11484-552: The increased role played by the rulers of Bohemia and Poland . The conquest of the Byzantine Empire , center of the Eastern Orthodox Church , by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced the Frankish empire) led to a change of the importance of Catholic / Protestant vs. Eastern Orthodox concept in Europe. Armour points out that Cyrillic -alphabet use
11616-579: The late medieval period, 16th century. One of the earliest known potential sites, which shows some promising preliminary evidence that may be linked to ferrous crucible processes in Kodumanal , near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu . The site is dated between the third century BCE and the third century CE. By the seventeenth century the main centre of crucible steel production seems to have been in Hyderabad. The process
11748-457: The liquid pig-iron for a long time, the carbon content of the pig iron could be reduced as it slowly diffused into the iron, turning both into steel. Crucible steel of this type was produced in South and Central Asia during the medieval era . This generally produced a very hard steel, but also a composite steel that was inhomogeneous, consisting of a very high-carbon steel (formerly the pig-iron) and
11880-403: The liquid, the carbon content could be carefully regulated (in a way similar to Asian crucible-steels but without the stark inhomogeneities indicative of those steels). Another benefit was that it allowed other elements to be alloyed with the steel. Huntsman was one of the first to begin experimenting with the addition of alloying agents like manganese to help remove impurities such as oxygen from
12012-407: The local majority, creating upheaval regarding demands of self-determination. Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania likewise were independent. Many of the countries were still largely rural, with little industry and only a few urban centres. Nationalism was the dominant force but most of the countries had ethnic or religious minorities who felt threatened by majority elements. Nearly all became democratic in
12144-570: The local police. They also took control of the mass media, especially radio, as well as the education system. They confiscated and redistributed farmland, and seized control of or replaced the organizations of civil society, such as church groups, sports, youth groups, trade unions, farmers' organizations, and civic organizations. In some countries, they engaged in large-scale ethnic cleansing, moving ethnic groups such as Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and Hungarians far away from where they previously lived, often with high loss of life, to relocate them within
12276-640: The local population majority were re-settled with Polish- or Czech-speakers. The region fell to Soviet control and Communist governments were imposed. Yugoslavia, Albania (and later Romania) had their own Communist regimes independent of Moscow. The Eastern Bloc at the onset of the Cold War in 1947 was far behind the Western European countries in economic rebuilding and economic progress. Winston Churchill, in his well-known "Sinews of Peace" address of 5 March 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri , stressed
12408-560: The main supplier of crucible steel, but over the centuries production slipped back, and by the nineteenth century just a small industry survived in the Balangoda district of the central southern highlands. A series of excavations at Samanalawewa indicated the unexpected and previously unknown technology of west-facing smelting sites, which are different types of steel production. These furnaces were used for direct smelting to steel. These are named "west facing" because they were located on
12540-489: The media. Another definition was used during the 40 years of Cold War between 1947 and 1989, and was more or less synonymous with the terms Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact . A similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegated. Many former Communist states in this region, although their formal alliances were severed by
12672-411: The more the steel was heated and worked, the more it tended to decarburize , and this outward diffusion occurs much faster than the inward diffusion between layers. Thus, further attempts to homogenize the steel resulted in a carbon content too low for use in items like springs, cutlery, swords, or tools. Therefore, steel intended for use in such items, especially tools, was still being made primarily by
12804-435: The most western parts of it located west of the Ural River , also shares a part of Eastern Europe. In the west, however, the historical and cultural boundaries of "Eastern Europe" are subject to some overlap and, most importantly, have undergone historical fluctuations, which makes a precise definition of the western geographic boundaries of Eastern Europe and the geographical midpoint of Europe somewhat difficult. After
12936-512: The nature and properties of wootz steel. Indian wootz engaged the attention of some of the best-known scientists. One was Michael Faraday who was fascinated by wootz steel. It was probably the investigations of George Pearson, reported at the Royal Society in 1795, which had the most far-reaching impact in terms of kindling interest in wootz amongst European scientists. He was the first of these scientists to publish his results and, incidentally,
13068-569: The new post-war borders of their respective countries. Under Stalin's direct instructions, these nations rejected grants from the American Marshall Plan . Instead, they joined the Molotov Plan , which later evolved into the Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) . When NATO was created in 1949, most countries of Eastern Europe became members of the opposing Warsaw Pact , forming
13200-528: The ninth century CE the region of Khorasan, the area to which the cities Nishapur , Merv, Herat and Balkh belong, was a steel manufacturing centre. Evidence from a metallurgical workshop at Merv, dated to the ninth- early tenth century CE, provides an illustration of the co-fusion method of steel production in crucibles, about 1000 years earlier than the distinctly different wootz process. The crucible steel process at Merv might be seen as technologically related to what Bronson (1986, 43) calls Hyderabad process,
13332-483: The poor preservation of the crucibles there is no evidence of a pouring spout. The main purpose of the crucible during this period was to keep the ore in the area where the heat was concentrated to separate it from impurities before shaping. A crucible furnace dating to 2300–1900 BC for bronze casting has been found at a religious precinct of Kerma . The use of crucibles in the Iron Age remains very similar to that of
13464-466: The pressure would break the vessel. Cementation vessels are mass-produced due to crucibles having to be broken open to remove the brass once the reaction has finished as in most cases the lid would have baked hard to the vessel or the brass might have adhered to the vessel walls. Smelting and melting of copper and its alloys such as leaded bronze was done in crucibles similar to those of the Roman period which have thinner walls and flat bases to sit within
13596-424: The process at several places in southern India. From the mid-17th century onwards, European travellers to the Indian subcontinent wrote numerous vivid eyewitness accounts of the production of steel there. These include accounts by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1679, Francis Buchanan in 1807, and H.W. Voysey in 1832. The 18th, 19th and early 20th century saw a heady period of European interest in trying to understand
13728-458: The production of Damascus steel . The first, and the most common, traditional method is solid state carburization of wrought iron . This is a diffusion process in which wrought iron is packed in crucibles or a hearth with charcoal, then heated to promote diffusion of carbon into the iron to produce steel. Carburization is the basis for the wootz process of steel. The second method is the decarburization of cast iron by removing carbon from
13860-466: The public a scythe -making works, which dates from Huntsman's times and is powered by a water wheel , using crucible steel made at the site. Previous to Huntsman, the most common method of producing steel was the manufacture of shear steel . In this method, blister steel produced by cementation was used, which consisted of a core of wrought iron surrounded by a shell of very high-carbon steel, typically ranging from 1.5 to 2.0% carbon. To help homogenize
13992-450: The quality and high hardenability of the steel, it was quickly adopted for the manufacture of tool steel, machine tools, cutlery, and many other items. Because no oxygen was blown through the steel, it exceeded Bessemer steel in both quality and hardenability, so Huntsman's process was used for manufacturing tool steel until better methods, utilizing an electric arc , were developed in the early 20th century. In another method, developed in
14124-406: The reasoning behind it: Ancient people use chi kang , (combined steel), for the edge, and jou thieh (soft iron) for the back, otherwise it would often break. Too strong a weapon will cut and destroy its own edge; that is why it is advisable to use nothing but combined steel. As for the yu-chhang (fish intestines) effect, it is what is now called the 'snake-coiling' steel sword, or alternatively,
14256-558: The region included Orontid Armenia , Caucasian Albania , Colchis and Iberia (not to be confused with the Iberian Peninsula in Western Europe ), of which the former two were the predecessor states of Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively, while the latter two were the predecessor states of modern-day Georgia . These peripheral kingdoms were, either from the start or later on, incorporated into various Iranian empires, including
14388-599: The remains of crucible steel production have only been published for four regions: three in India and one in Sri Lanka. Indian/Sri Lankan crucible steel is commonly referred to as wootz , which is generally agreed to be an English corruption of the word ukko (in the Canarese language) or hookoo (in the Telugu language ). European accounts from the 17th century onwards have referred to
14520-421: The repute and manufacture of "wootz", a traditional crucible steel made specially in parts of southern India in the former provinces of Golconda , Mysore and Salem. As yet the scale of excavations and surface surveys is too limited to link the literary accounts to archaeometallurgical evidence. The proven sites of crucible steel production in south India, e.g. at Konasamudram and Gatihosahalli, date from at least
14652-456: The same mass are needed to confirm the constant (completely dry) mass of the crucible and lid and similarly again for the crucible, lid, and sample residue inside. Since the mass of every crucible and lid is different, the pre-firing/pre-weighing must be done for every new crucible/lid used. The desiccator contains desiccant to absorb moisture from the air inside, so the air inside will be completely dry. Eastern Europe Eastern Europe
14784-474: The same time that the west- facing technology was operating in Sri Lanka. Excavations of the Yodhawewa (near Mannar) site (in 2018) have uncovered a lower half of a bottom spherical furnace and crucible fragments used to make crucible steel in Sri Lanka during the 7th-8th centuries AD. The crucible fragments uncovered at the site were similar to the elongated tube-shaped crucibles of Samanalawewa. Central Asia has
14916-420: The sample residue in the crucible. The "ashless" filter paper is completely burned up in this process. The crucible with the sample and lid is allowed to cool in a desiccator . The crucible and lid with the sample inside are weighed very accurately again only after it has completely cooled to room temperature (higher temperature would cause air currents around the balance giving inaccurate results). The mass of
15048-404: The slow and arduous bloomery process in very small amounts and at high cost, which, albeit better, had to be manually separated from the wrought iron and was still impossible to fully homogenize in the solid state. Huntsman's process was the first to produce a fully homogeneous steel. Unlike previous methods of steel production, the Huntsman process was the first to fully melt the steel, allowing
15180-417: The steel, it was pounded into flat plates, which were stacked and forge welded together. This produced steel with alternating layers of steel and iron. The resulting billet could then be hammered flat, cut into plates, which were stacked and welded again, thinning and compounding the layers, and evening out the carbon more as it slowly diffused out of the high-carbon steel into the lower-carbon iron. However,
15312-442: The steel. His process was later used by many others, such as Robert Hadfield and Robert Forester Mushet , to produce the first alloy steels like mangalloy , high-speed steel , and stainless steel . Due to variations in the carbon content of the blister steel, the carbon steel produced could vary in carbon content between crucibles by as much as 0.18%, but on average produced a eutectoid steel containing ~ 0.79% carbon. Due to
15444-425: The time because of the use of fluxes. The steel was usually worked very little and at relatively low temperatures to avoid any decarburization , hot short crumbling, or excess diffusion of carbon. With a carbon content close to that of cast iron, it usually required no heat treatment after shaping other than air cooling to achieve the correct hardness, relying on composition alone. The higher-carbon steel provided
15576-454: The time. Before the introduction of Huntsman's technique, Sheffield produced about 200 tonnes of steel per year from Swedish wrought iron (see Oregrounds iron ). The introduction of Huntsman's technique changed this radically: one hundred years later the amount had risen to over 80,000 tonnes per year, or almost half of Europe's total production. Sheffield developed from a small township into one of Europe's leading industrial cities. The steel
15708-519: The time. During the Chalcolithic period , crucibles were heated from the top by using blowpipes . Ceramic crucibles from this time had slight modifications to their designs such as handles, knobs or pouring spouts allowing them to be more easily handled and poured. Early examples of this practice can be seen in Feinan, Jordan. These crucibles have added handles to allow for better manipulation, however, due to
15840-403: The western sides of hilltops to use the prevailing wind in the smelting process. Sri Lankan furnace steels were known and traded between the 9th and 11th centuries and earlier, but apparently not later. These sites were dated to the 7th–11th centuries. The coincidence of this dating with the 9th century Islamic reference to Sarandib is of great importance. The crucible process existed in India at
15972-417: The wootz processes in that it used a longer time to melt the steel and to cool it down and thus allowed more time for the diffusion of carbon. Huntsman's process used iron and steel as raw materials, in the form of blister steel , rather than direct conversion from cast iron as in puddling or the later Bessemer process . The ability to fully melt the steel removed any inhomogeneities in the steel, allowing
16104-638: Was soon absorbed by the Soviet Union), Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Austria and Hungary had much-reduced boundaries. The new states included sizeable ethnic minorities, which were to be protected according to the League of Nations minority protection regime. Throughout Eastern Europe, ethnic Germans constituted by far the largest single ethnic minority. In some areas, as in the Sudetenland , regions of Poland , and in parts of Slovenia , German speakers constituted
16236-537: Was a prevalent status of agricultural workers until the 19th century. It resembled slavery in terms of lack of freedom, with the distinction that the landowners could not buy and sell serfs separately from the specific plots of land that they were permanently attached to. The system emerged in the 14th and 15th century, the same time it was declining in Western Europe. The climax came in the 17th and 18th century. The early 19th century saw its decline, marked especially by
16368-746: Was apparently quite different from that recorded elsewhere. Wootz from Hyderabad or the Deccani process for making watered blades involved a co-fusion of two different kinds of iron: one was low in carbon and the other was a high-carbon steel or cast iron. Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout ancient Europe, China, the Arab world , and became particularly famous in the Middle East, where it became known as Damascus steel. Recent archaeological investigations have suggested that Sri Lanka also supported innovative technologies for iron and steel production in antiquity. The Sri Lankan system of crucible steel making
16500-531: Was created by the Cold War , as Europe was ideologically divided by the Iron Curtain , with "Eastern Europe" being synonymous with communist states constituting the Eastern Bloc under the influence of the Soviet Union . The term is sometimes considered to be pejorative, through stereotypes about Eastern Europe being inferior (poorer, less developed) to Western Europe ; the term Central and Eastern Europe
16632-672: Was independent of the Kremlin. The communists had a natural reservoir of popularity in that they had destroyed the Nazi invaders. Their goal was to guarantee long-term working-class solidarity. The Soviet secret police, the NKVD , working in collaboration with local communists, created secret police forces using leadership trained in Moscow. This new secret police arrived to arrest political enemies according to prepared lists. The national Communists then took power in
16764-538: Was invaded and occupied by the Mongols . During the Ostsiedlung , towns founded under Magdeburg rights became centers of economic development and scattered German settlements were founded in parts of Eastern Europe. Introduction of German town law is often seen as a second great step after introduction of Christianity at the turn of the first and second millennia. The ensuing modernization of society and economy allowed
16896-425: Was lost from the end of the Roman to the early Medieval period, continued in the same way with brass. Brass production increased during the medieval period due to a better understanding of the technology behind it. Furthermore, the process for carrying out cementation for brass did not change greatly until the 19th century. However, during this period a vast and highly important technological innovation happened using
17028-515: Was partially independent of the various Indian and Middle Eastern systems. Their method was something similar to the method of carburization of wrought iron. The earliest confirmed crucible steel site is located in the Knuckles range in the northern area of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka dated to 6th–10th centuries CE. In the twelfth century the land of Serendib (Sri Lanka) seems to have been
17160-492: Was produced in specialised workshops called 'crucible furnaces', which consisted of a workshop at ground level and a subterranean cellar. The furnace buildings varied in size and architectural style, growing in size towards the latter part of the 19th century as technological developments enabled multiple pots to be "fired" at once, using gas as a heating fuel. Each workshop had a series of standard features, such as rows of melting holes, teaming pits, roof vents, rows of shelving for
17292-527: Was produced using the so-called " wootz " process, and it is assumed that its appearance in other locations was due to long-distance trade. Only recently it has become apparent that places in Central Asia like Merv in Turkmenistan and Akhsiket in Uzbekistan were important centres of production of crucible steel. The Central Asian finds are all from excavations and date from the 8th to 12th centuries CE, while
17424-434: Was used within the crucible. These early crucibles would only produce a small amount of steel as they would have to be broken once the process has finished. By the late Medieval period, steel production had moved from India to modern-day Uzbekistan where new materials were being used in the production of steel crucibles, for example, Mullite crucibles were introduced. These were sandy clay crucibles which had been formed around
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