Chromium steel was considered one of the main inventions of the 20th century, but archaeologists from Great Britain, having examined medieval Persian manuscripts, discovered a recipe for its receipt.
This is a 10-11 century manuscript by the Persian scholar Abu-Raikhan Biruni. Researchers have found chromium as one of the ingredients in a recipe for making steel.
In Chahak in southern Iran, steel was made from the 12th to the 19th century – it was here that scientists were able to find waste from steel production. They examined the remains of charcoal by the radiocarbon method, as well as by means of electron microscopy. As a result, they were able to find the remains of chromite, which Biruni wrote about. At the same time, 1-2 mass percent of chromium was also found in the remains of steel.
According to the head of the study, Dr. Rachel Alipur, the work proves that chromium steel was invented in Persia 1,000 years ago, in the 11th century. In addition, a chemical indicator was obtained, thanks to which it will be possible to determine the place of origin of objects made of crucible steel, which are currently kept in museums and private collections.
