Teacher Developed Activity, T-DA!
Jeff Mengel
Activity name: The Making of Steel – Then and Now
Seminar: Building America: Minnesota’s Iron Range, Industrialization, and the Creation of
World Power
Grade ban: 10-12
For use with lessons about: Industrial Tech: Manufacturing Processes/Industrial Revolution
Time needed: 5 hours
Materials:
 Text: Modern Welding pages 615-632 “Steelmaking Methods”
Or – Steel Making Processes
Video – Industrial Revelation: Steel Making Methods (England)
Virtual Steelmaking
 Handout – Steelmaking – Then and Now
 Steelmaking PowerPoint
 Grading Rubric
Overview:
This activity is designed to familiarize Manufacturing students with the history of the steel
making process and the role played in the American Industrial Revolution.
Essential question: How was carbon steel made in the past? How is steel made today?
What role did steelmaking play in world and local history?
Outcomes:
 Students will be able to describe the steel making process from the Bessemer Process up
to the present.

Students will be able to describe the importance of the steel making process in American
history.
Activity steps:
1. Assign reading in the text, pages 615-632, watch video or assign other reading.
2. Power point presentation: History of Steel Making – Then and Now
3. Discussion of the importance of the steel industry to the Industrial Revolution, the role
of steel in both world wars and the local impact (Northwest Indiana).
4. Review the rubric for the writing assignment.
5. Have students write a one page essay answering the essential questions.
________________________
Minnesota Humanities Center
www.minnesotahumanities.org
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Rubric/Assessment tool: From the English Dept. Rubric Bank: Informative Essay and Interview
Additional resources/Bibliography:
1. Steel: From the Iron Age to the Space Age by Douglas Fisher. Harper and Row, New York.
1967.
2. The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel by Camp and Francis. United States Steel,
Pittsburgh. 1951. Googlebooks preview of 1920 version
3. Minnesota Ore Operations, United States Steel. DVD.
4. Midrex.com for Direct Reduction Iron information
6. Power Point photos from various Internet sources.
________________________
Minnesota Humanities Center
www.minnesotahumanities.org
2
The Making of Steel – Then and Now
I.
Iron Age +/- 1700BC – 1850 AD
1. Iron smelted from iron ore in Caucasus Mountains at Chalybia.
Iron ore heated in the presence of carbon up to 2400 degrees forms sponge iron. This
is further refined by reheating and hammering to produce wrought iron (tough and
malleable). Above 2400 degrees liquefied to make cast iron (hard and brittle).
2. Early steel making processes:
Wootz steel (crucible) - 400BC in India
Cementation – Persia
Natural steel – direct reduction, Greece and Spain
Blast furnace (stuckoffen, bloomery) – 1500AD. Able to produce larger quantities of
iron but requiring more power to refine. Introduction of tilt or trip hammer.
II.
Steel Age – 1850 to Present
1. Bessemer Process – invented by both Henry Bessemer and William Kelly to
refine iron into steel with air blast but did not become practical until Robert
Mushet introduces “spiegeleisen”.
2. Open hearth Process (Siemens-Martin furnace) – Two sets of brothers
combined the open hearth and regenerative gas furnace in 1864. By 1908
open hearth production surpassed the Bessemer in steel output. New process
coincided with the discovery of iron ranges in Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
3. Electric Arc Furnace (arc and induction) – Developed in the late 1800’s
and allowed the production of alloy and stainless steels.
4. Basic Oxygen Furnace – Uses oxygen lance to inject oxygen into the furnace
at supersonic speeds. Limestone and other materials added as flux to remove excess
carbon and other impurities. Later combined with the continuous caster. Greatly
improved the output of steel with reduction of labor and energy costs.
5. Direct Reduction Iron – Iron ore is reduced in a shaft type furnace by passing
hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas up through the ore from the bottom of the
furnace. This eliminates the need for coking grade coal and the environmental
hazards associated with the coke ovens. DRI can be made with either natural gas or
coal. The finished product has between 90-94% total iron.
________________________
Minnesota Humanities Center
www.minnesotahumanities.org
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The DRI can be used in three ways.
A. Cold iron that can be used to charge a furnace at a later time.
B. Hot – Briquetted Iron, a compacted form enabling easy transport.
C. Hot DRI that is sent directly to an electric arc furnace to make steel.
III.
Role Played by Steel in World and Local History
1.
2.
3.
4.
History of local steel mills – Inland, USS, Youngstown, Wisconsin, Midwest,
Bethlehem, Acme.
Immigration and migration patterns of the local workforce.
Driving forces – Industrial Revolution and two world wars.
Current state of the local steel industry.
________________________
Minnesota Humanities Center
www.minnesotahumanities.org
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