What are martensite, pearlite and ferrite? Klavasen has no concept of metallography yet.
In fact, before the metallurgical phase of metals can be directly seen under a microscope, blacksmiths from all over the world relied on their own experience. In the long-term smelting process, they slowly summed up the methods of quenching, tempering and Annealing is a heat treatment technique that can be achieved under existing conditions, and through these measures, the properties of iron have been significantly changed.
Perhaps the birth of block-smelted carburized steel originated from the whim of a craftsman who repeatedly forged red-hot iron weights.
For example, an owner of iron farm tools wants a blacksmith to renovate his farm tools or make them into a shape more suitable for use.
The blacksmith was just too lazy to save trouble, so he used the most ordinary charcoal stove to burn the iron farm tools red, and then began to forge them into the shape required by the customer, and then quenched them in cold water and delivered them for use. The blacksmith's laziness and effortlessness are exactly a steel-making process.
An ordinary family in this time and space, their survival almost depends on farming and growing food. Ironware is more practical than bronze. Although ironware is not a price that one family cannot accept among the people, it is still a precious treasure. , is to be passed down from generation to generation.
The repair process is also a secondary heating process. Since it is low-temperature heating, charcoal is the most cost-effective fuel available to people in this time and space. It does not completely burn and heats the wrought iron to a maximum of seven hundred degrees, often only Five hundred degrees. At such a temperature, a large amount of carbon monoxide dissipates with the hot air, and a large amount of carbon molecules penetrate into the carbon-free wrought iron.
Every time it is burned, carbon penetrates in. As long as enough penetrates, the iron weight becomes low carbon steel. If the blacksmith continues to repeat it painstakingly, or even repeats it a hundred times, the iron weight will gradually turn into high carbon steel. If it continues, it will turn into poor pig iron because too much carbon has seeped into it.
This large-scale artificial carburization work for iron-making began in China during the Spring and Autumn Period.
On the other hand, in Greece and Rome at the same time, although iron tools had begun to be used, since the fall of Western Rome, Western European blacksmiths still did not develop a relatively sound artificial carburizing technology for block iron making. Instead, they had to import it on a large scale. Steel knives from North India under the control of the Parthian Empire.
The source of Otto’s Destroyer comes from the Indus River Basin.
The patterns on the sword god are actually derived from some trace elements rather than complex forging techniques. Although the locals are indeed very skilled in making steel swords, the process is complicated and time-consuming.
The locals used local ores for smelting, and any sword made with local ores would have beautiful patterns. However, more than two thousand years later, they could no longer make swords with patterns, and the times also changed. Entered the industrial age. The special local iron ore was mined out, and the technology of making pattern steel was immediately lost.
But mankind has become industrially civilized, and large-scale steelmaking has become possible. In the time it took the ancients to make a steel sword, later generations could make thousands of tons of pure molten iron.
Regulating the carbon content of molten iron is a systematic science, and the technologies of later generations almost all come from the technological leap brought about by the development of chemistry. If there is anything that future generations inherit from their predecessors, it is the blast furnace.
In Europe, before learning Chinese blast furnace technology, they had always had rammed earth furnaces that were half a person tall. At most, individual blacksmiths built the furnaces to be as tall as a person.
Here at Klavasen, he finally waited for the iron bar to cool down for the first time.
During this period of slow and natural cooling, Rurik's spirit relaxed and he soon became drowsy. He really curled up on the ground, like a golden kitten, wrapped in an animal skin and fell asleep.
Seeing that Rurik had rested and felt that a blacksmith's house was by no means a good place to sleep, Klavasen urged his son Kawi: "Let's do it again as he asked. Don't be afraid of waking him up. , let’s get started.”
The blacksmith shop started to buzz again, and Rurik fell into a drowsy sleep, until he suddenly felt drowsy and was being picked up.
"Child, are you awake?" Klavason asked kindly.
"Well...where are you going with me?"
"Go to the longhouse where my family stays. Don't worry, it's really too late now. Wait until we all wake up I will continue to beat it, and it will definitely satisfy you."
"Okay, that iron..."
"I beat it again, and the stove has been extinguished. I didn't turn it on. The iron bar is quenched directly and left to cool freely."
Hearing what he said, Rurik was very satisfied.
He was placed on the warmer hide and saw the lighted oil lamp again. In the dim light, Rurik saw the figure of an old woman and Rumia's peaceful sleeping appearance.
It’s really interesting. Klavason’s old wife obviously doesn’t mind Rumia’s special status as the daughter of a deer herder. The two of them are like an old mother and daughter. Perhaps Klavassen's wife hoped to have a daughter? Who knows?
Rurik felt that he was well taken care of by the blacksmith. He stayed at the blacksmith's establishment. Everyone lay in the sleeping dens covered with animal skins, and the warmth was natural.
Now that he has woken up, Rurik muttered quietly: "Tomorrow you...you will do as I say. By the way, what to do with the dregs in the furnace? Just throw it away?"
"The slag must be thrown away, as well as the ashes." Clavarson said indifferently.
"No! Throw away the slag and keep the ashes of the charcoal fire."
"Huh? They are important?"
"Of course, this way... "Rurik suddenly hesitated. He estimated that it would take a lot of words to tell the blacksmith about carburizing now, so he simply didn't want to say more. "Just do what I want. You can continue to forge tomorrow. Remember, be sure not to quench the iron directly with cold water."
"I understand, hey, it's called tempering, which means it's blown like ice by the cold wind. Cool.”
"That's it." Rurik smiled every day: "Tomorrow, please ask Brother Kawei to take me to the longhouse of the priests first."
Kawei, he is very happy to stay. Ke calls him his brother. Does this mean that the future leader Rurik respects him? "Going to the chief priest's house? Is it important?"
"Of course! I want to see how the soap is. I think you also want to buy a piece of soap! In addition to the soap, I also want to get some seals. Oil."
"Oil lamp?" Kawei asked naturally.
"Of course not! Starting tomorrow, we must start using grease quenching and seal oil to cool the hot iron bars instead of ice water."
"This..." stuck Wei heard this incomprehensibly, and Klavason's situation was even worse.
Quenching with grease, not to mention it is unbelievable, is a huge luxury, because quenching always requires a barrel full of grease!
Rurik didn’t want to explain more, but said straightforwardly: “Do as I say, and remember all my requirements. When you build me a sword that can cut through ordinary iron swords, When you have a good sword, you will know that the effort is worth it. At that time, I will tell you the real secret here. Remember, that is the true wisdom of Odin. Now you are just following my request. It’s just practical wisdom.”
Ryurik didn’t say anything more, and Klavason and Kawei were so excited that they couldn’t calm down for a long time. It's really strange to use grease to cool a red sword embryo.
A new day is another busy start.
Kawei sent Rurik to the door of the priest's longhouse as promised.
"Rurik, go in by yourself."
"Huh? You don't want to come in?"
Inadvertently, Kawei revealed his unspeakable secret. "I...maybe I shouldn't go to Odin's domain."
His words were a bit formal. When Rurik thought about it carefully, it was probably because Kawi claimed to be Thor's servant.
"Then just wait, I'll come as soon as I go."
After that, Rurik's small body got in.
His sudden appearance was not unexpected at all. As expected, the priests continued to take various measures to make soap.
The elderly Vilia spends most of the day practicing meditation, not wanting any exertion to damage his increasingly fragile body.
She also felt increasingly that her successor Bona was a philistine. The next high priest was less pious to the gods and more interested in silver coins.
But the daily life of the priest group relies heavily on Bona.
The priests rested for a day, and Pona felt that their sore arms had recovered. They began to boil the white seal meat they bought cheaply.
They even ate some raw seal fat as a different kind of delicacy.
"It's Rurik. I heard that you went to the blacksmith. Where is Rumia? She didn't come.Without her, I would have to ask someone else to herd. "
Rurik nodded: "I will ask her to come back tomorrow. I have done something for her, so don't embarrass her when grazing. I came here to ask you for some grease. ”
“Grease? Don't you want soap? "Bona looked curious.
"I want to take some grease to the blacksmith shop. It has nothing to do with soap. Don't ask any more about these. "
"Well, I hope it's not a troublesome thing. ”
Bona didn’t think much about it, because now there was just boiled fat, although there was still a lot of residue in it that had not been filtered.
Rurik took another piece that had been filtered. He stuffed the dried soap into his leather jacket without saying much. He simply handed Poona a silver coin to shut her up.
He struggled to carry it. The wooden barrel of warm grease walked out of the long house. It was like he came and went in a hurry.
Because he really couldn't waste too much time.
He went out and went directly. Kawei, who did not want to stay long, ordered: "You carry the barrel and go. When you return, we will use grease instead of ice water to quench it. "
"Huh? Kawei made sure he heard correctly, "Grease?" You question doing this, I'm curious if it doesn't burn? "
"No, don't ask any more questions. We used it immediately when we got to the blacksmith's shop. "As he said this, Rurik took out the soap and said, "This is what the priest sold you especially. It's still two silver coins. Ask your father to give it to me. ”
“Okay. ”
This is actually the first time Kawei has come into contact with soap. This thing has the texture of grease but is not sticky at all. It is really the strangest thing I have ever seen in my life.
Kawei is not worried at all. The grease in the barrel would spread out because of the cold outside. When the two returned to the blacksmith shop, the barrel of seal oil had turned into a big lump of white solid.
From this day on, the grease began to spread. With the addition of the furnace, it can be said that the production of block-smelted low-carbon steel can finally be officially started.
The cooling furnace is ignited again. The difference from yesterday is that Rurik does not require Kawei to operate the blower. It was used only to control the intensity of combustion.
All the slag from yesterday was cleaned up, and Klavason carefully collected the plant ash according to Rurik's request.
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A dark red flame emitted from the furnace, and there were no yellow flames coming out of the top of the furnace.
The two blacksmiths understood that such a flame could only burn the ore red, but not burn it at all. Separate the slag waste from the iron.
But this is Rurik's request.
The iron weight was hammered into iron bars yesterday, and it was coated with a layer of solidified seal. Oil, and wrapped in a layer of "clothes" of ashes and charcoal debris
Klavason and Kawe had no choice but to follow suit, and naturally there were questions.
" Is this the key? Maybe that's what we should have done yesterday. "Klavason said doubtfully.
"But yesterday we had no grease. You go ahead and put the iron bar into the carbon pile and let it smolder for a while. ”
It is wrong to just take it out and beat it as soon as it is hot. Only by increasing the contact area between the wrought iron and the incompletely burned carbon fire will a large number of carbon atoms penetrate into it.
As for smearing grease with plant ash and carbon powder, it involves another purpose.
Plant ash contains potassium nitrate, and the presence of nitrogen is very important to avoid the incorporation of carbon into grease. It's not just for sticking to plant ashes. Grease itself contains a lot of carbon and a small amount of nitrogen.
Carbon and nitrogen-containing substances can adhere to wrought iron at zero distance and smolder at low temperatures. The heat treatment method allows the carbon to penetrate the surface of the iron bar more efficiently.
The smoldering was deliberately carried out for a period of time. Since there was no such thing as an hourglass, Rurik had to think of a temporary trick. .
Klavason doesn’t mind drilling a hole into one of his own barrels, because he can order hundreds of them from the tribe’s shipbuilders for less money than Rurik’s financial sponsor. Oak barrel. The barrel was not valuable, but the "water flow timer" made by Rurik made him feel it was necessary.
After drilling a hole in the bottom of the barrel, Klavason poured in half of the melted snow. Water.
When the water ran out, the dark red iron bar was taken out.
The forging started just like yesterday! The routine is to bend and fold it, then beat it into an iron weight and smash it into a long strip. Rurik temporarily set a cycle for it, that is, beat it twice every time.
"Okay, stop! The iron bar has cooled down, now insert it into the grease. "
Kawei was not surprised at first, but it was Klavasen who was surprised: "It must be quenched with grease? Is it really necessary? "
"Just listen to what he says and do it. "Kawei urged his father.
"Okay, since you insist. ”
The temperature of the iron bar has naturally cooled to less than 300 degrees, and its metallographic phase is changing. Iron at this temperature cannot cause the burning of fat. It will still burn the oil it comes into contact with in the grease bucket. Sizzling.
Oil quenching is gentler. This is what Rurik needs now. Only in this way will the hardness of the iron not become extreme due to the rapid cooling, and the carbon that enters will not become extreme. In order to better penetrate into the deep layer, in order to make the overall carburization even, the iron bar is taken out, and it becomes a black bar with greasy substance.
Ke ordered: "Now follow the initial steps, wrap it in charcoal and ashes, and continue to smolder. Remember, the wooden barrel is filled with water. When the water leaks, take out the iron bars. Please be sure to repeat this ten times today. "
"Huh? So many times? So complicated? "Klavasen shouted in disbelief.
"Today is just the beginning. Rurik said without changing his expression: "This is Odin's wisdom. Only in this way can we build the hardest sword and easily cut through other people's ordinary iron swords." Do you think I gave it to you?Not enough money? You continue, there are still four days of work in the future, and you must repeat it fifty times starting from today. ”
What else can I say? It would be too stupid to offend the financial owner. Moreover, Klavason also wants to get the legendary sword to arm himself and his son. As long as he succeeds once, Klavason is confident that he can succeed Copy the experience. Think about it, a sword that cuts iron like clay, and you believe in the effort you put into it. Generally, the iron sword costs three silver coins, and the sword costs at least thirty silver coins. Is it a wealthy warrior? Will they give up a magic sword for thirty silver coins?
With such respect for the wealthy future, the two blacksmiths quickly corrected their mentality and devoted themselves to the most arduous work.
They started sweating profusely, and Rurik and Lumia just watched as spectators.
This is Bailiang Steel. It is the first time in the Nordic world to use Bailiang Steelmaking technology to produce block-smelted low carbon steel. It is being manufactured. But with the crazy methods of carbon and nitrogen co-infiltration and the high-intensity work of "Fifty Refining", is it still low carbon steel?
I am afraid it is already medium carbon steel? .
The sword embryo is made of medium-carbon steel that has both flexibility and hardness. After several rounds of earth-burning and oil-quenching techniques, the sword blade becomes harder and high-carbon steel, which is sure to cut through wrought iron!