Crucible steel

Type of 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 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 pre-industrial times, it was not possible to produce sufficient temperatures with charcoal or coal fires required to melt iron or steel.

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