FERRUM NORICUM - State of Research on an Early High-Grade Steel

摘要

THE FERRUM NORICUM is a type of high grade steel suitable for quench-hardening in tools and weapons. The production center was the later roman province of Noricum, today part of eastern Austria. Its determination by modern metallographic research is characterized by the presence of a carbon content, suitable for hardening (0.3-0.9 percent C), a low quantity of slag inclusions, and their composition typical for the Carinthian iron ores (siderites, high manganese, low phosphorus). Archaeological research on smelting sites of this period revealed a smelting system with very high state of organization, thus resulting in a constant steel quality and low carbon consumption in the bloomery furnace.