Gruson’s chilled cast iron – a legendary wonder material of the 19th century

Abstract

Abstract In the second half of the 19th century, a wonder material reached worldwide fame. The chilled cast iron developed by Magdeburgbased industrialist and inventor Hermann Gruson was characterized by its extraordinary wear resistance which was far superior to that of the traditional wrought steels. Chilled cast iron was in demand all over the globe as a protective material, for example. Many stories surround Gruson’s long forgotten chilled cast iron and for the first time, this material has now been examined for its mechanical and microstructural properties using modern analytical methods. The microstructure property correlations determined during the study provide interesting insights both into the material and its inventor, who was one of the most innovative engineers of his time.