NEWS CATEGORIES:

NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>

Home / News / Science / Nano-Biotechnology

Nano-Biotechnology

High-Tech Material Into the Alchemist's Pots Medieval potters kept their formula secret	By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor 23rd of November 2006, 11:55 GMT Adjust text size:


Archaeologists at UCL (University College London) and Cardiff University have solved the mystery of the 500 years old alchemists' centerpiece: their crucibles (mixing vessels). The crucibles, made in the German region of Hesse, were renowned for their endurance to strong reagents and high temperatures. The Hessian crucibles have been encountered in archaeological sites from Scandinavia, Central Europe, Spain, Portugal, UK, and colonial America. Many have tried to imitate their manufacturing process but failed. The British researchers used petrographic, chemical and X-ray diffraction analysis to discover that the secret ingredient of the Hessian crucible is mullite, an advanced material only properly identified in the 20th century. "Our analysis of 50 Hessian and non-Hessian crucibles revealed that the secret component in their manufacture is an aluminium silicate known as mullite (Al6Si2O13)." said Dr Marcos Martin�n-Torres, of the UCL. "Today mullite is used in a wide range of modern conventional and advanced ceramics, such as building materials, electronic packaging devices, optical materials and catalytic converters, as well as in ceramic matrix composites such as thermal protection systems and liners for aircraft and stationary gas turbine engines." "This material was only first described in the 20th century, though Hessian crucible makers were already taking advantage of this peculiar aluminium silicate 400 years earlier: they synthesized mullite by manufacturing their crucibles with kaolin clay and then firing them at temperatures above 1100 degrees." "Mullite is extremely resistant to thermal, chemical and mechanical stresses, and that's what made the crucibles so fit for their functions. It is thanks to the availability of Hessian crucibles that the discovery of some elements and their thermochemical behavior could take place." Of course, the Hessian potters were not aware of mullite, but they were conscious about their secret formula they kept for centuries. "Manufacture of the crucibles used in early metallurgy and alchemy challenged the potters as they were required to withstand conditions more extreme than those required of other ceramics. In this case we find that the properties of a material which we regard as modern and high-tech, in this case mullite, were being exploited centuries ago by craftsmen who had a limited scientific understanding of their products but a great deal of skill and ingenuity." said Professor Ian Freestone, Cardiff School of History and Archaeology.

Rating:

Good (3.0/5)

6 vote(s) so far

Read by 1,269 user(s) | Add comment | Link to this article

Subscribe to news |

Print article |

Send to friend

© Copyright 2001-2008 Softpedia
Contact:

SEARCH THE NEWS ARCHIVE :

Today's News | Yesterday's News | News Archive

MORE RELATED ARTICLES:

Ancient Hair Dye Formula Close to Nanotechnology

Diamond Turned to Liquid

The Largest Shipwrecked Roman Vessel from Mediterranean

User opinions:

No user comments yet.

Be the first to express your opinion using the form below!

Share your opinion:

SUBMIT PROGRAM \| ADVERTISE \| GET HELP \| SEND US FEEDBACK \| RSS FEEDS \| ENTER NEWS SITE \| ENGLISH BOARD \| ROMANIAN FORUM
© 2001 - 2008 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Softpedia™ and the Softpedia™ logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.	Copyright Information \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use \| Update your software \| Archive