The Ultimate Historyof Metallurgy

A timeline of metal processes, heat treatments and surface technology from 8700 BC to Modern Day.

What is copper?

All four of these metallurgical techniques appeared more or less simultaneously at the beginning of the Neolithic Age c. 7500 BC. They included:

Cold workingAnnealingSmeltingLost wax casting

further info http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper

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Copper is a ductile metal, resistant to corrosion with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange colour.

Uses for copper? Weapons of war, currency, art and jewellery. Modern day uses are in pipes, wiring, radiators, car brakes and bearings, etc.

8700 BC

What is bronze?

Uses for bronze? Being more robust than copper or stone, bronze enabled people to create more durable metal objects such as tools, art, weapons, currency and building materials. More modern uses were as ship fittings (owing to its resistance to salt erosion), bearings, clips, electrical connectors and springs

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

Bronze is an alloy created using many different metals like aluminium, nickel and zinc. Non-metals such as arsenic, silicon and phosphorus can also be added to the mix.

4500 BC

Mines in the hillside at Rudna

Glava

The first European copper miners are believed to have come from the Balkan region. Digging with bone tools, they excavated huge quantities of copper ore from the Rudna Glava (Ore Head) in what is now present day Serbia.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin%C4%8Da_culture

Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

4000 BC

Otzi the iceman

Otzi the iceman is one of the oldest mummies of the copper age. He was discovered in a glacier in 1991 along with a number of items such as an axe, flint-blade knife, viburnum wood quiver and arrows, shedding light on how tools were being used 4,000 years ago.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin%C4%8Da_culture Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

3500 BC

Otzi the iceman and his copper axe are

discovered.

Types of bronze

A so-called ‘alpha’ bronze alloy - used to make springs, turbines and blades - is typically only 5% tin. Historical bronzes, for example found in a 12 th century English candlestick, might have contained a mixture of copper, lead, nickel, tin, iron, antimony, arsenic and a large amount of silver; this could suggest that hoards of coins were used in the creation of certain items.

Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

There are a number of bronze alloys but usually a

modern bronze is 88% copper to 12% tin.

Copper-working found

in China

Metallurgy in China has a long history. Copper was widely used by many cultures and China’s use of copper dates back to around 3000 BC. Some of the earliest pieces of copper were discovered at Dengjiawan, within what is known as the Shijiahe site complex.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_metallurgy_in_China Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

2800 BC

Early brazing techniques

Puabi (commonly labelled Queen Puabi) was an important person in the Sumerian city of Ur, during the First Dynasty of Ur. A gold goblet with a double-walled vessel made for her was found in her tomb. Brazed with an alloy of 25% silver, the gold was called ‘electrum’.

Read more on the Bodycote history of metal interactive

More information on vacuum brazing http://www.bodycote.com/en/services/metal-joining/furnace-brazing.aspx

2500 BC

Gold goblet with a double walled vessel made for

Queen Puabi using early brazing techniques.

Iron artifacts

The Hattic people were ancient inhabitants of the land of Hatti, part of what is now Turkey. The Hattians existed through roughly 200 BC until they were naturalised into the Indo-European Hittite cultures and began to speak languages like Hittie, Luwian, and Palaic.

further info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HattiansRead more on the Bodycote history of metal interactive .

2500 BC

Iron artifacts found in Hattic Royal Tombs.

Bronze ChinaChina’s Bronze Age began from around 2100 BC, during the Xia dynasty. Earliest finds were at sites in Qijia and Siba, in Xinjiang and Shandong amongst others.

further info - http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_4000bce_bronze.htm .Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

2000 BC

Evidence of a crude form of bronze in China.

India begins to work iron

India was considered by Imperial Rome to be a nation of excellent cast iron creators. The Hindus were far ahead of Europe in industrial chemistry and iron smelting was widely practiced throughout ancient India.

further info - http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/metallurg_heritage_india/metallurgical_heritage_india.html .Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

1800 BC

Anatolian iron

The earliest production of steel dates back to 1800 BC. Fragments of it were found in iron that was excavated from a site in Kaman-Kalehoyuk, Anatolia.

further info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal .

1800 BC

Anatolia takes its first steps into creating steel from smelting

iron.

Hittites

The use of iron in weaponry was unique to the Hittites; before this bronze had mainly been used, but the harder bronze was heavy and cumbersome.

Read more about Hittite weapons and the metals used here http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1600 BC

The Hittites begin to replace bronze with Iron for weapons.

Chinese bronze

Bronze castings were used in the creation of detailed ritualistic items for ceremonial purpose and religious events rather than utilitarian items as they had been previously. Shang artists would decorate many Ding vessels with detailed animal forms such as elephants, tigers, owls, bulls, rams, various birds and imaginary animal masks called ‘taotie’.

Read more about Chinese bronze objects here http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty

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1500 BC

In the Shang Dynasty, China, bronze objects

become highly detailed.

Hardening processes

Around this time, it was known that the sharpness of a sword could be improved by rapidly cooling it in, for example, water after heating it up to forging temperatures. In the middle ages, steel parts were heated then packed into compacted biological material such as bone meal, ground horse hooves, or animal hides and urine was sometimes used as a quenchant. This caused a form of surface hardening that was detectable but not understood.

More information on modern hardening processCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1400 BC

East African steel

What is steel? All steel types are alloys of iron and other elements, used mainly for their strength and low cost. Typically, around 2.1% of carbon is added to increase the hardening of the steel at an atomic level.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SteelCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1400 BC

East Africa begins to work steel.

Tempered martensite

Tempering is an ancient heat treatment process. The oldest known example of discovered tempered metal was a pick axe handle dating from 1200 BC to 1100 BC, found in Galilee. The tempering process was used throughout the ancient world through Europe, Africa and Asia.

further info More information on TemperingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1200 BC

Tempered martensite found in Galilee.

Spartan steel

Steel has been stated to have been the secret weapon of the Spartan army. Although this claim is not wholly supported, weapons in Athens, Rome and Persia had been a mixture of a steel casing and wrought iron core since 500 BC, so very possibly Sparta was experimenting with steel weaponry. Spartans were born warriors and imagined a superior weapon in their hands against the softer iron or bronze weapons of their enemies.

further info http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/12/nyregion/lyle-borst-89-nuclear-physicist-who-worked-on-a-bomb-project.htmlCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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650 BC

Large quantities of steel are being produced in Sparta.

Wootz steel made in India

It is often described visually as swirling patterns of light-etchings on a nearly black background and was known as the finest steel in the world. Some of the best examples of this steel are weapons such as blades or swords, although some body armour has been discovered.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel#cite_note-24 Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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600 BC

Wootz steel is easily recognised by its pattern of bands or sheets of micro

carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite mix.

Central America

Indigenous Americans have been using copper since before 4000 BC, but fully developed smelting came along much later on the Northern coast with the Moche culture. The ore was extracted via shallow deposits in the Andean foothills and believed to have been smelted at nearby locations.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallurgy_in_pre-Columbian_America

Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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600 BC

Copper smelting in Central America.

Quench hardened

steel

A mass grave in the Hebei province was recently found to contain several soldiers buried with their weapons and other artifacts made of cast iron, wrought iron and - more importantly - quench-hardened steel.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuenchingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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400 BC

The Chinese create quench hardened steel.

Sinhalese steel

In Sri Lanka, the method of using monsoon winds to power furnaces was used to produce high-carbon steel. Hundreds of archaeological sites on the slopes of the remote hills in Sri Lankan Central Highlands have been discovered. Evidence of this technique was first found in 1990.

further info https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/news/title_305864_en.html Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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200 BC

The Sinhalese people use monsoon winds to make

steel.

Carbon steel in Tanzania

The Haya people are believed to be the earliest inhabitants in Tanzania to practice metalworking and, incredibly, the first people to invent carbon steel. The Haya elders made furnaces out of mud and grass which, when burnt, created carbon to transform iron into steel; the process worked much the same as an open hearth furnace.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haya_peopleCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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0 - 99 AD

Haya people of Tanzania create hearth furnace to

make carbon steel.

Crucible steel in Merv

Central Asia was recently discovered to be an important hub in the production of crucible steel. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were two of these places. Evidence has been found at Merv, Turkmenistan, a prominent city on the ‘Silk Road’.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucible_steel Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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800 AD

Crucible steel is created in Merv, Turkmenistan.

Song Dynasty China

The demand for iron in China was increasing by the 11th century. Iron was used for weapons, coins, statues, bells, architecture, machinery and more. Now, the smelting process developed by the Song Dynasty in China used huge bellows driven by large wheels which, in turn, were powered by burning charcoal.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_metallurgy_in_ChinaCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1161 AD

Song Dynasty, China, creates a method for using

less charcoal in a blast furnace.

The early Bessemer process

A very similar process to what we know as the ‘Bessemer’ process has existed since 11th century Asia. In his visit to Cizhou, this process was described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo as ‘a method of repeated forging of cast iron into steel using a cold blast over the molten metal to reduce carbon content, much like the Western Bessemer process’.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessemer_processCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1200 AD

East Asia creates the process that was later coined the ‘Bessemer’

process.

Pascal's Law

Pascal’s work in the fields of hydrodynamics and hydrostatics revolved around the principles of hydraulic fluids. His inventions included the syringe and the hydraulic press. In honour of his contribution to science, the name Pascal has been given to the SI unit of pressure, a programming language and Pascal’s Law. Pascal’s triangle and Pascal’s Wager also still bear his name.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1623 AD

Although unaware of the relevance of his discovery in metal treatment, it was Blaise

Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, writer, inventor and religious philosopher whose law would have a significant impact on the heat

treatment of metal.

Iron industry

Speculation has been made about the first UK foundries being constructed around 1161 AD. However “bloomeries” and blast furnaces are documented as having been around Cumbria’s Furness Fells at around 1700 AD; and include sites in Cunsey, Force Hacket, Low Wood, Coniston, Spark Forge and Backbarrow.

further info http://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-industries/iron-and-steel/Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1700 AD

The first iron industry is created in Cumbria,

England.

Modern crucible steel

Benjamin Huntsman started his professional career as a clockmaker and, whilst experimenting in secret for more robust steel clock springs, he came upon the crucible process. The process was created in a coke-fired furnace capable of reaching 1,600°C. Clay pot crucibles were heated until they became white-hot, then a flux was added, the molten steel was poured into a mould and the crucibles reused.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucible_steelCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1740 AD

Modern crucible steel is invented by Benjamin

Huntsman in Doncaster, England.

Puddling process

Patented by Henry Cort of Hampshire, the puddling process consisted of stirring molten pig iron in a reverberating furnace in an oxidising atmosphere to decarbonise it. Afterward, the iron was gathered into a ball, shingled and rolled out.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddling_(metallurgy)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_hearth_furnaceCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1784 AD

Puddling process used by Henry Cort.

Bessemer process is patented

This was the first inexpensive mass-production of molten pig iron to steel prior to open hearth methods. The key was to blow air over molten iron to remove all impurities by oxidation. It made the production of steel fast and efficient and gave Bessemer a name in history. Many industries at this time were restricted by the lack of steel available, particularly the railways.

further info Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1846 AD

Between 1850 and 1855, English inventor Sir Henry Bessemer took final credit for the creation

of the Bessemer process with a patent. He stated that he had been trying to reduce the

cost of steel for military weapons and ammunition when he had made the discovery.

Boriding process

The surface boride may be in the form of either a single phase or a double phase boride layer. In an article published in 1895, Nobel prize winning Henri Moissan first described a method of hardening iron at red heat in a vapour of volatile boron halides.

further info More information on BoridingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1895 AD

Article published that first describes the boriding (boronizing) process. Boriding is a

thermochemical surface hardening method which can be applied to a wide range of ferrous,

non-ferrous and cermet materials.

Electric Arc Furnace

The electric arc furnace, developed by Paul Heroult of France, differs from the regular induction type. Material is exposed to an electric arc that is an ongoing plasma discharge that melts iron.

further info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc_furnace Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1907 AD

The Electric Arc Furnace or (EAF) is created.

Nitriding

On May 25th, 1906, a patent application was filed by Adolf Machlet, working as a metallurgical engineer for the American Gas Company. The patent proposed that oxidation of steel components could be avoided by replacing the air atmosphere in the retort with ammonia.

further info Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal further info More information on nitriding

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1908 AD

Nitriding is patented by Adolf Machlet.

Ion implantation discovered

In 1949, Shockley filed for a patent, “Semiconductor Translating Device” describing the p-n junction fabrication using ion implantation [4]. In 1954, he filed another patent, “Forming of Semiconductor Devices by Ionic Bombardment” giving a fundamental description for ion implantation equipment.

further info More information on ion implantation Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1911 AD

Historically, the first ion implanter was helium based, constructed and

operated in 1911 at Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge by Ernest

Rutherford and his students.

Flame spraying invented

Flame spraying was invented by Dr. Max Schoop in Switzerland in the mid-1910s. While playing with his young son, firing a toy cannon, he found that hot lead shot projected from the cannon stuck to virtually any surface. Schoop began experiments with small cannons and tin and lead granules.

further info More information on flame sprayingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1912 AD

Isostatic pressing patent

(Madden, H. D. US Patent 1,081,618[TJ5] ). At this time, there was an increasing need for refractory metal filaments for electric lamps. Powder metallurgy techniques, by conventional die compaction of fine powders, were necessary for the manufacture of small billets suitable for swaging and wire drawing.

further info More information on ion implantation Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1913 AD

The first attempt to exploit Pascal’s Law in metallurgy was made in 1913

by Harry D. Madden who described an isostatic pressing technique in a US

patent assigned to the Westinghouse Lamp Company, USA.

Anodising process

Anodising is used to produce protective and decorative oxide layers on aluminium, improving corrosion protection and wear resistance. Different colours are created by dyeing or electrolytic colouring.

Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1923 AD

Austempering of steel

Austempering is a heat treating process for medium-to-high carbon ferrous metals which produces a metallurgical structure called bainite. It is used to increase strength, toughness, and reduce distortion.

More info More information on austemperingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1930 AD

Austempering of steel pioneered in the United

States.

The electronic microscope

Up until the invention of the electron microscope, it was pure supposition as to what actually occurred during the hardening process. Examinations of the microstructure of metal began in the 17 th century with the frequently performed assessment of fracture surfaces during sorting of cast iron grades and faggot steel.

More info More information on hardeningCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1931 AD

Invention of electron microscope leads to greater understanding of hardening.

Basic Oxygen Steel method

Basic Oxygen Steelmaking is a process of converting molten pig iron into steel by a process where oxygen is blown over the iron inside the converter. It was developed by Swiss engineer, Robert Durrer, and commercialised in the 1950s by two very small Austrian companies, VOEST and ÖAMG (now Voestalpine AG). The process is a refined version of the Bessemer method, where blown air is replaced by oxygen, and had been patented 100 years before by Henry Bessemer, however, since it was impossible to obtain the commercial quantities of oxygen needed to make the process work at that time, it never came to fruition.

More info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_oxygen_steelmaking Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1950 AD

Plasma spray coating

developed

Developed in the 1950s, the plasma spraying process involves the latent heat of ionised inert gas (plasma) being used to create the heat source. The most common gas used to create the plasma is argon; this is referred to as the primary gas.

More information on plasma spray coatingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1950 AD

Electron beam welding

1952 is seen as the creation date of electron beam technology. It was the physicist Dr Karl-Heinz Steigerwald who is credited with creating the first electron beam processing machine, however he was building on work from the previous century by physicists Hittorf and Crookes who, in 1879, first tried to generate cathode rays in gases to melt metals.

More information on electron beam weldingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1952 AD

Hot Isostatic Pressing

Although isostatic pressing patents had been granted since the beginning of the 20th century, it wasn’t until 1956 that the first patent specific to hot isostatic pressing was granted to Battelle’s Columbus Laboratories in the United States.

More information on hot isostatic pressingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1956 AD

First specific Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) patent

granted.

Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP)

From the mid-1960s onwards, HIP became increasingly utilised as a means of healing porosity and micro-defects in a variety of metal castings. One of the principal advantages of the application of HIP was a significant improvement in the fatigue resistance of a number of components.

More information on hot isostatic pressingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1960 AD

HIP used to heal porosity and micro-defects in metal

castings.

Vacuum carburising

The process of carburising was invented in late 1968 and patented a year later by Herbert W. Westeren. It took roughly three decades before the process was fully embraced. Carburising is a heat treatment of iron or steel causing it to absorb carbon when it is heated in the presence of a carbon-bearing substance such as charcoal or carbon monoxide, intending to make the iron or steel much harder.

More information on - http://www.thermalprocessing.com/article/detail/6254/a-case-for-acetylene-based-low-pressure-carburizing-of-gears

More information about low pressure carburising

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1968 AD

carburising was invented in late 1968.

High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF)

It was in the early 1980s that Browning and Witfield, using rocket engine technologies, developed a new way of spraying metal powders. It was referred to as High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF). The technique used a combination of oxygen with other fuel gases such as hydrogen, propane, propylene and even liquids such as kerosene.

more info More information on HVOFCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1980 AD

HVOF technique of thermal spray developed.

Hot isostatic pressing

HIP advanced from what was originally a laboratory technique. Not only did the production process develop, but the applications and part sizes expanded into new areas.

More information on Hot Isostatic PressingCompiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1980 AD

HIP enters the modern era.

Specialty Stainless

Steel

Developed in 1985, the S3P (Specialty Stainless Steel Processes) treatments are unique processes that improve the hardness and anti-galling properties of stainless steel without affecting its corrosion resistance.

More information on S3P

Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1985 AD

Development of the S3P process.

Corr-I-Dur®

Developed in Germany, Corr-I-Dur® is a proprietary Bodycote technology. Unhappy with the environmental implications of using salt bath nitrocarburising with post-oxidation to increase wear resistance and corrosion resistance in low alloyed steels, engineers at Bodycote looked to provide a more environmentally friendly alternative.

More information on Corr-I-Dur®Compiled from http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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1996 AD

Invention of the Corr-I-Dur® process.

Bodycote

This content was compiled using content included in the bodycote interactive history of metal timeline.To view the source please click here - http://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal

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Further reading about the processes mentioned can be found below;

Heat treatmentsSurface technologyHVOFMetal joiningHot isostatic pressing

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