The 19th century was a time of great change in iron and steel making. Massive productivity improvements in iron making occurred starting early in the century with the invention of the hot air blast for the smelting of iron in the blast furnace. By mid-century, steel moved from being a luxury item, made manually and arduously in puddling furnaces, to becoming a commodity by way of invention of the Bessemer (Kelly?) converter and the Siemens-Martin or open hearth furnace. These technologies resulted in the building of great industrial empires. In this talk, I will use historical drawings and photographs to present this fascinating and sometimes sordid history along with the chemistry which added science to the art.

PROGRAM

BIOGRAPHY

Richard G. Rateick, Jr., PE is a registered engineer in Indiana. He graduated from Valparaiso University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a second major in Chemistry, and then from The University of Notre Dame with a Master of Materials Science and Engineering. He performed materials R&D at Honeywell Aerospace for 33 years. Now he owns REXP2 Research LLC, a consulting and R&D firm, and is an Adjunct Assistant Research Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His professional interests are in the mechanical, corrosion, and tribological properties of metals, ceramics and carbon-carbon composites. He holds 15 patents and has authored and coauthored 46 papers in the peer reviewed literature.