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I know that steel was discovered circa 1100 B.C.E. Does that mean the Romans were using steel weapons since the founding of their city is supposed to be around 750 B.C.E?
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Imad
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Their forging process seemed to produce low-carbon content steel in some cases...probably a bit less than something modern like 1020 mild steel. Which I believe is 0.2% carbon per content.
You looking to join a legion Imad? :wink:
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Magnus/Matt
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Quote:You looking to join a legion Imad? Wink
Lol. Not a bad idea considering I am of Scythian descent. That would probably make me a rarity in the Roman Army.
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Imad
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David Sim (at Reading University) has shown that the plates of lorica segmentata armour were soft iron inside and (some at least) were mild steel on the outside. This seems to have been a deliberate act, rather than an accidental conquence of the forging procedure. (See "Iron for the Eagles", by David Sim& Isabel Ridge, p.96).
The same also seems to have been true of sword blades, where they have been analysed (museums aren't too keen on people coming along and cutting up their display items to analyse, you realise). I read somewhere that it was widely believed in Roman times that swords made from iron mined in Noricum (modern Austria, roughly) were better than from other sources. When the iron ore from Austrian mines was analysed, it was found that there was a fairly high manganese content there. In other words, the Romans were making manganese steels! Of course, they didn't know this but it explains why such swords would be capable of taking a sharper edge and were harder as well.
The process of turning rought iron into steel (carburisation or cementation) has been known since ancient Greek times and was described by Aristotle.
Caratacus
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Yes, 'case-hardening' was used right up until the early years of the 20th century for battleship armour - it was even trademarked as 'Case-hardened Harvey nickel-steel compound armour' (whew!)
Of course, the process of forging the iron bars used charcoal in the forge and this would tend to diffuse into the iron anyway. Sim calculated that it would take around 6-8 hours for a billet of iron to be completely converted into mild steel in a furnace so, as you say, a very long process. Which is why, presumably, the armourers used a layer system when only a thin outside sheet of steel was married to a soft iron core. I would imagine that this would also make the sword less brittle and give it a certain 'spring' in use.
Caratacus
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visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.