Gruson's chilled cast iron - a legendary wonder material of the 19th century

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.

Automated summary

In the second half of the 19th century, Hermann Gruson, an industrialist and inventor from Magdeburg, developed a wonder material called chilled cast iron, which had extraordinary wear resistance surpassing traditional wrought steels. This material gained worldwide fame and was widely used as a protective material. The study of its mechanical and microstructural properties using modern analytical methods provided interesting insights into both the material itself and its innovative inventor.