Aluminothermics

Abstract

A new means of creating high temperature is apt to lay the foundation for more or less important industrial developments. Legends tell us that there was once a time when humanity existed without fire until Prometheus brought the devine fire to the dwellers of the earth and thereby laid the foundation for civilization. In making a step forward across thousands of years, look at the industries before the employment of black coal—before it became known that coal was combustible matter. We perceive that our whole modern technical knowledge is based on the creation of heat by the combustion of black coal. A new fire, was supplied by Volta in the electric arc, but it took centuries before the invention of dynamos enabled us to utilize the heat power supplied by electricity, by means of the electric lamps and furnace. We perceive that the fundamental idea and the mere production of heat do not by themselves supply practical results, and that it is only the application that determines the real value, which it sometimes takes many years to detect. To these known means for the production of high temperatures, a new one is now added—the so-called “thermit process”.