The springhouse home of one of the most significant pioneers in the coke and steel industries is dedicated as a 2024 ASM Historical Landmark. A replica beehive coke oven, built using some of the remaining brick and stone structures that were used to make coke, is on display at the West Overton Village site just steps away from Frick’s birthplace home.

Proper specification, measurement, and control of annealing furnace atmospheres are critical to reduce sooting, oxidation, sticking, and distortion. This article describes how to effectively design and utilize a nitrogen-hydrogen annealing atmosphere.

Researchers at the Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are working with CHTE members to develop post-processing parameters to enhance the mechanical properties of additively manufactured (AM) steels. This article reports preliminary results based on characterization of AISI 8620 and 20MnCr5 powder, selective laser melted parts, and wrought parts.

The key obstacle to industrial scale magnesium rolling is the element’s inherently poor formability at room temperature. To address this challenge, the search is on for new magnesium alloys that feature improved formability along with novel rolling techniques. This article describes R&D activities at CanmetMaterials aimed at expanding manufacturing capabilities of magnesium-based sheet materials for future applications in transport vehicles.

Significant advancements in metallurgy were highlighted at a special symposium presented at the Materials Science & Technology 2016 conference in Salt Lake City. This article summarizes the topics presented. All six speakers shared examples of the importance of understanding how the specific manufacturing process affects microstructure development in metals. The fundamental understanding of microstructure allows metallurgists to select manufacturing processes and schedules to tailor the microstructure, and therefore mechanical properties and performance, for a particular component.

The U.S. steel industry began its steady decline in the late 1950s, a devastation of epic proportions that continued throughout the 1980s and beyond. This artilce reviews industry consolidation during this period.

From poor labor relations and delayed modernization to an unbalanced product mix and inconvenient mill locations, the U.S. steel industry began its steady decline in the late 1950s.

The advent of "little steel" and the strike of 1937 had a lasting impact on the domestic steel industry and labor relations in particular.

Integration of the steel industry continued with the rise of Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

The beginning of the big integrated steel industry began with the formation of the United States steel corporation in 1901. This article describes the growth of the U.S. steel industry in the first half of the twentieth century.

From 1988 to 2008, the minimill industry added 25 million tons annual capacity—25% of the total U.S. steel market.

From 1900 to 1960, there was little change in the steelmaking industry. That period of stasis came to an end with the introduction of steel minimills in the late 1960s.

Understanding the forces behind decarburization is the first step toward minimizing its detrimental effects. This article reviews decarburization basics and results of experimental work on spring steels.

Throughout metal making history, nothing has exceeded the technical importance, scientific complexity, and human curiosity involved in the hardening of steel. After the bustling 1890s, with its exciting and productive discoveries around steel metallography, a period of quiet consolidation occurred in the early 20th century. This article describes the breakthroughs in steel metallurgy that occurred after this period by such pioneers as William Chandler Roberts-Austen, Adolf Martens, Henry Marion Howe, and Edgar C. Bain.

The widespread use of alloy steels beginning in the early 1900s created the need to acquire and share information about heat treating, which previously had been a guarded art. This article describes advances in alloy steel technology in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Simple tools were first devised for hunting purposes, followed by more complex ones for agriculture and construction, and always included efforts to make better weapons for war. Finally, with the Industrial Revolution, humans began to invent mass-produced machine tools. this article describes the early development of the tool steel industry in the United States.

By 1875, the Bessemer steel industry had spread across the country from eastern Pennsylvania to St. Louis. Pittsburgh was home to a number of plants with multiple converters and the required blast furnaces and rolling mills to serve the growing demand for steel rails and beams. This article describes how Andrew Carnegie developed his steel empire with Pittsburgh as the epicenter.

The second half of the 19th century set the stage for major U.S. industrial growth, and the Bessemer steelmaking process played a significant role.

This article provides a brief review of thermal spray technology along with examples of where and how it used in steelmaking equipment and operations.

Metallographic examination and optical emission spectroscopy shed light on the origin of a lampshade found in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The steels used for the ring and wire in the frame are typical of those made prior to WWII and the fabrication processes appear to be of a similar timeframe. Tassels on the lampshade were determined to be a more recent alteration and the fabric was found to be cow skin parchment based on DNA testing.