2 Lange, Some Remarkable Steel Crystals. 



I believe I am right in saying that this photograph is 

 unique of its kind ; I have searched in every Hkely 

 publication for a similar illustration, but in vain ; I have 

 only been able to find an illustration of a single steel 

 crystal, a very fine "pine-tree" specimen, similar to one 

 of the largest in the present case, which belongs to 

 Professor D. Tschernoff, of St. Petersburg, and which was 

 taken from a cavitj^ in the rising head of a i6o ton ingot 

 of soft open-hearth steel. The reason why such freely 

 developed steel crystals have been but seldom noted, in 

 spite of the fact that steel is a crystalline body, is that 

 they can only form under very exceptional circumstances. 

 The fact that they have only been noted in conjunction with 

 large castings or ingots indicates that very slow cooling 

 is necessary to their formation, and the position in which 

 they have been found indicates that they have formed 

 during the slow descent of liquid steel from the upper to 

 the interior portion of a mass of steel during the con- 

 traction caused by the cooling. In fact the formation of 

 the cavity has given room for the free development of the 

 crystals starting from a comparatively few points as may 

 be expected in very slow cooling. The position of the 

 crystals in the rising head, and close, therefore, to the 

 segregated area, would doubtless be reflected in their 

 composition, and this is shown in the present case by the 

 two analyses that Messrs. Vickers Ltd. have supplied me 

 with. The first analysis was made from drillings taken 

 from an actual crystal, and showed the following 



results : — 



Ajtalysis of an actual Crystal. 

 Combined Carbon ... ... ... '43 % 



Silicon 

 Manganese 

 Sulphur 

 Phosphorus 



■191 -> 



•loi „ 



•098 „ 



