Hessian crucible

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A Hessian crucible is a type of crucible that was manufactured in the Hesse region of Germany from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance period. They were renowned for their ability to withstand very high temperatures, rapid changes in temperature, and strong reagents. These crucibles were widely used for alchemy and early metallurgy. Millions of the vessels were exported throughout Europe, Scandinavia, and the colonies in the Americas. The crucibles were made by firing kaolinitic clay at temperatures greater than 1100℃, forming mullite. Mullite is an aluminum silicate only described in the twentieth century and is responsible for the excellent properties of the Hessian crucible.

[edit] References

• Booth, James Curtis; and Campbell Morfit (1862). The Encyclopedia of Chemistry, Practical and Theoretical: Embracing its Application to the Arts, Metallurgy, Mineralogy, Geology, Medicine, and Pharmacy, 2nd edition, Philadelphia, PA: Henry Carey Baird. OCLC 6980781. 
• Percy, John (1861). Metallurgy; The Art of Extracting Metals from Their Ores, and Adapting Them to Various Purposes of Manufacture: Fuel, Fire-clays, Copper, Zinc, Brass, etc.. London: John Murray. OCLC 997845. 
• Martinón-Torres, Marcos; Thilo Rehren and Ian C. Freestone (November 2006). "Mullite and the mystery of Hessian wares" (PDF online reproduction). Nature 444 (7718): pp.437–438. London: Nature Publishing Group. doi:10.1038/444437a. ISSN 0028-0836. 
• Schneider, Hartmut (2005). "General Introduction", in Hartmut Schneider and Sridhar Komarneri (eds.): Mullite. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH, xv–xx. ISBN 978-3-527-30974-0. OCLC 58051400. 
• University College London (2006-11-23), “21st Century Technology Cracks Alchemists' Secret Recipe”, ScienceDaily, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061123120134.htm>. Retrieved on 2008-01-12