History of Crucible Steel
High-end quality steel saw production in the southern parts of India in the era as early as the 300 BC century, and the steel made from this production later came to be known as “crucible steel” by the European people, and the technique of the production would be called the “crucible technique.”
This form of steel production was quite different from the current trends of production in the sector and involved the mixture of substances like wrought iron, glass, and charcoal in a crucible, wherein the iron was melted and the carbon from the charcoal was absorbed. Long before the “common era” began, the first crucible steel was produced in India, and came to be known as the “wootz steel.”
Research and literary works along with archeological pieces dating from that era suggest with evidence and theory that the invention of crucible steel in South India happened much before the Christian era, and it also became famous internationally, wherein the products were exported from the Chera Dynasty in India to the country of Rome, where it became popular by the name of “Seric Iron.”