150 years of steel castings

A 45-minute-long report on a ground-breaking invention in the steelmaking industry recently fascinated ZDF television viewers. 150 years ago, the art of steel casting was invented by Jacob Mayer.

The competition began between Mayer and the largest steelmaker of that day in Germany, Alfred Krupp. Mayer was the winner in the competition for a time because he was the first to cast a bell made of steel. Invention of steel casting

Because this technology plays only a subordinate role at Thyssen-Krupp, the story of the past and the present is connected during the broadcast by means of images and a story of production in the voestalpine Steel Division. Dispersed throughout the broadcast, a total of 15 minutes is devoted to the casting of a gas turbine housing at voestalpine in Linz.

It is exciting to see how, in a period of 150 years, the fundamental steps in the casting procedure used by Mayer have hardly changed at all. Today, however, only a few experts specialize in the art of steel casting. One of these expert companies is the voestalpine Steel Division in Linz.