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Metallurgy Volume I: Ores, Metals and Alloys
by Gordorel Roadstrider
Introduction
Before we begin our travel in this first volume of Metallurgy we need to clarify a few things. By reading the books you will learn a few things about the most common metals that appear in everydays use and the ways those metals are extracted from the ores, shaped and given form. You all know of magical items, gnomish exploding devices or the masterwork dwarven arms and armors. Though how do they come in existence? The answer is simple: Hard work and experience and failure. Lots of failure. With failure comes knowledge and experience. So before you start delving deeper in the tough world of Metallurgy be prepared. This book serves only as a guide and nothing more. It's only when you step in front of a burning furnace for days, and you feel the heat and you body has lost all its fluids, then and only then you will be able to tell if you can take it or not. Yet again it comes easier and it is more fun than the gnomish exploding devices. Enjoy...
Ores
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining and are then refined to extract the valuable element. The grade or concentration of an ore mineral, or metal, as well as its form of occurrence, will directly affect the costs associated with mining the ore. The cost of extraction must thus be weighed against the metal value contained in the rock to determine what ore can be processed and what ore is of too low a grade to be worth mining. The ores must be processed to extract the metals of interest from the waste rock and from the ore minerals.
The typical ores used for extracting the most common metals used in metallurgy are:
Hematite and Magnetite for the extraction of iron and black iron respectively
Bornite for the extraction of copper
Argentite for production of silver
Alluvium for the extraction of gold or platinum
Quartz typically for the extraction of gold
Mithral typically associated with iron deposits close to volcanic magma.
Adamantine typically associated with volcanic magma
Hematite
Hematite is a mineral, colored black to steel or silver-gray, brown to reddish brown, or red. It is mined as the main ore of iron. While the forms of hematite vary, they all have a rust-red streak. Huge deposits of hematite are found in banded iron formations (distinctive types of rock that appear being formed of thin iron layers colored from silver to black). Gray hematite is typically found in places where there has been standing water or mineral hot springs. Hematite can also occur without water, however, usually as the result of volcanic activity.
Magnetite
Magnetite is a mineral colored black to dark-gray. Magnetite is usualy found in banded iron formations in huge underground dry deposits. Sometimes magnetite can found in large quantities in beach sand. Magnetite has magnetic properties (attracts small pieces of iron) and large pieces of if, called lodestone, are used for compasses.
Bornite
Bornite has a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfaces that tarnishes to various shades of blue to purple in places. It is found in huge deposits close to ground surface and is used for the extraction of copper for many milenia.
Argentite
Argentite is the most common ore for the extraction of silver. It is usually extracted in underground mines that have high temperatures. It is occasionally found as uneven cubes and octahedra, but more often as dendritic or earthy masses, with a blackish lead-grey color and metallic lustre.
Alluvium
Alluvium is the material deposited by rivers. It is usually most extensively developed in the lower part of the course of a river, forming floodplains and deltas, but may be deposited at any point where the river overflows its banks or where the velocity of a river is checked - for example, where it runs into a lake.
Quartz
Quartz is often found in veins that cut through rocks. Although the term "vein" suggests this, the veins of quartz and other minerals are usually not thin tubes, but rather thin sheets. They are usually form under high temperatures and pressure or close to volcanic activity. The quartz ores usually contain large amounts of gold thus making it worth extracting.
Mithral
Mithral ores are usually formed in deposits or veins. They are found deep underground close to iron deposits and volcanic magma. They are extremely rare to be found and the extraction dangerous cause of the conditions. The mithral contained in the ore gives a yellow-siver bright color and shine.
Adamantite
Adamantite ores are usually found close to underground volcanic magma flow. The high temperatures keep the metal in a semi liquified state. The extraction is difficult and dangerous cause of the conditions. Very characteristic is that the metal slowly flows through the rock during the mining process.
Metals
Iron
Iron is the most common metal found. It is soft and bends with ease. Its pure form is rarely found basically because it reacts with air and moisture generating rust. It melts in very high temperatures and its high heating capacity (meaning it holds its temperature for long time) is rendering it suitable for item crafting. Pure forms of iron are usually found underground where no air or water have come in touch with it. Usually iron is extracted from Hematite or Magnetite during the refining process. As it is very soft, pure iron is rarely used for crafting. Though its combination with carbon produces an alloy called steel that has an increased hardiness of about 1000 times that of the normal iron rendering it suitable for almost any craft.
Black Iron
Black Iron is specific rust of iron generated when pure iron comes in touch with air in dry places. The main source of Black Iron is Magnetite. In its pure form it's soft, though a bit harder than pure iron, and dark gray or black in color. Magnetite's magnetic properties pass, through certain process, into the Black Iron making ideal for compasses or electrical enchantments.
Cold Iron
Cold Iron has the same physical properties with iron though items created by it show some effectiveness against fey creatures. It is usually found in great depths with low temperatures as a form of Hematite or on meteor crush sites. Its color is slightly whiter and brighter than normal iron. Its delicate properties require caution, when Cold Iron is extracted from the ore, in order to preserve them.
Copper
It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, a building material, and a constituent of various metal alloys such as bronze. The metal and its alloys have been used for thousands of years in metallurgy for the creation of various items. Many of its alloys are in the form of salts which often impart blue or green colors to minerals such as azurite and turquoise and have been widely used historically as pigments. Some other alloys with sulfur might also generate clear blueish transparent and valuable crystals under specific conditions. Copper is usually extracted from Bornite.
Gold
It is a dense, soft, malleable, coinage and ductile metal with a bright yellow color and luster that is considered attractive, which is maintained without tarnishing in air or water. It is one of the least reactive metals and therefore occurs often in pure form, as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins, alluvium deposits and in quartz, granite or iron rich ores.
Silver
Silver is a very ductile, malleable (slightly harder than gold), coinage metal, with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It is usually found in Argentite deposits mixed with lead and iron making its extraction slightly difficult and expensive. In metallurgy it used along side with steel to form weapons that can significantly harm creatures such as lycanthropes.
Mithral
Mithral is a very rare silvery, glistening metal that is half the weight of iron but just as hard. When worked like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which to create arms and armors and is occasionally used for other items as well though usually, cause of its rareness, it is primarily used in alloys with pure steel. It can be beaten like copper, and polished like glass. Its beauty is like to that of common silver, but the beauty of Mithral do not tarnish or grow dim.
Adamantite
Adamantite is an ultra-hard metal even rarer than Mithral and comes in several basic hues: brown-gold, blue-silver, and green-silver; a few cases are known of black adamantite ore (from drow enclaves). Its great toughness and durability makes it impossible to work if cooled. It is only extracted from Adamantite ores in nearly liquefied state and it is kept close to that state during the whole crafting process. Usually only dwarves, gnomes and humans have access to adamantite, since it is found very deep in the earth and in very small quantities, though drow are able to find enough of it to make their armor and weapons. Adamantite must be alloyed with high-grade steel to be usable in making items, primarily because it is too rare to “waste” by making pure adamantite devices.
Lead
Lead is a very ductile, heavy and very malleable metal. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air. It is a common byproduct of silver extraction process and not very useful in metallurgy. The low melting point makes casting of lead easy, and therefore darts and arrow points can be cast with minimal technical equipment. It is also inexpensive and denser than other common metals. Because of its high density and resistance from corrosion, lead is used for the ballast keel of sailboats. Its high density allows it to counterbalance the heeling effect of wind on the sails while at the same time occupying a small volume and thus offering the least underwater resistance. It is discovered that workers that go through the process of silver or lead for long time, suffer from poisonous effects caused probably by the lead or arsenic contained in small quantities in the lead.
Alloys
Bronze
Bronze is an alloy od copper mixed with tin. It is used from ancient times for the construction of tool and weapons. When polished it has a greenish-gold color but within days it tarnishes to green-blue usually cause of the moisture of the air. In metallurgy nowadays it is used more often in the creation of tools and weapons finishes such as cross-guards or hilts in swords.
Steel
Steel is an alloy created during the refining process of iron in the Blast Furnace. It is a mixture of iron and carbon in very high temperatures. Steel can become about 1000 times harder than pure iron depending of its quantity of carbon. High quality steel can be polished and shine as silver though it is a matter of days before it tarnish and become dull and black in color. A thin layer of oil is always left around every steel made item to protect it from tarnishing and preserve its polish.
Darksteel
Just like steel, Darksteel is an alloy of Black Iron mixed with Carbon in the Blast Furnace. It is worked just like steel though in lower temperatures to preserve its magnetic properties. Darksteel is most commonly used to create devices and arms with electrical properties or armors that would nullify such properties.
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The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. Wiliam Gibson - Neuromancer
Last edited by nefos on Sat, Jun 29 2013, 21:01 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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