We have an industry in Bengaluru catering to Electrical Motor and Transformer industries. Our main raw material is Electrical Steel
which is special steel alloy having magnetic properties. This iron alloy
becomes special with the addition of Silicon which has got the properties to
make the alloy produce specific magnetic properties. Silicon is an abundant
element on Earth next only to oxygen. Though Silicon is not found free in
nature it occurs chiefly as silicon dioxide and as silicates. Handful of sand
from the beach has by mass 47% of Silicon in the form of Silica. The variation
in Silicon content in the metallurgy of this special steel alloy enables us to get
better electrical parameters when used in the appliances like motors and
transformers.
Initially when we were new to this field we found it difficult to understand about this steel. Our practical
knowledge was limited due to the overloaded theoretical knowledge got from
books and lecture on this alloy. We had read about these metals in our Material Science class when in college but had never seen one. It was here I understood that theory was
different from practical; it was tough to get the appropriate steel from the
traders to suit to our client’s requirement. At one instance, we had a client
who was a vendor to the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment of the
Defence Research & Development Organization. He required a particular core
section for a transformer and we assured him of getting him the core section. It
was an R & D project for him too and I would take the samples to his unit
in the morning and by evening he would call me and say that the core has not met the required electrical parameters. We ended up giving 19 samples. It was very
difficult for us to get the perfect electrical steel grade to match their requirement. Finally we did pin point the
required raw material to supply to the client who made transformers for DRDO.
Metallurgy is not a new topic for us as our ancients were experts in it. My post
yesterday mentioned about iron cast of Bhimasena done by Sri Krishna, one of my readers was surprised and wanted to know if the art of casting was known
during Mahabharata times.
“Lohakarma Shastra” (Metallurgy) was done by the
process of Secana (Pouring of Metal). In
fact metals were mentioned in Vedas much before Mahabharata and Ramayana. Rig
Veda mentions about Hiranya (Gold) and Ayas (Iron), (Note: we call magnet “Ayas-Kanta”',
Iron-Lover as magnet attracts iron). Atharva
Veda talks about Rajata (Silver), Trapu (Tin) and Sisa (Lead). There are many
literature from Siddhas who were proficient in handling Avityaja (Mercury).
They have a secret formula to solidify mercury which has medicinal benefits.
In our ancient texts like Mahabharata and Agni
Puranas there is a reference of a word “Taila Dhauta” that is done to the arrow
heads. Taila in Sanskrit is oil, Dhuta is wash. In today’s world we make the iron
alloy brittle by a treatment. The process involves heating the iron alloy at high
temperature and immediately immersed the white hot alloy in oil at room temperature; this process is called “hardening.”
The iron alloy hardens by losing its resilience quality making it brittle. Arrow heads and sword edges need to be brittle.
We had artisans who could make mirrors out of metal.
Even though we do not have the evidence to prove our hold on metallurgy, we can
know that our ancients were well-versed in handling metals in the past.
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