I'm looking for any metallurgy/materials science resources that you fellow engineers out there know of. Ideal resources would include instructional type material for educating on the fundementals and intermediate levels of metallurgy/materials science for ferrous steels. But, genera materials science resources would also be great!

After the Songs https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/n89x41/my_civ_concept_series_2_the_songs/, next civ will be the Bantu.

The lands occupied after the expansion of the Bantu cover all Central Africa, to the Great Lakes, Southeastern Africa and South Africa. During the Middle Ages they formed many Kingdoms of different sizes before and during the time European and Middle East Arabs reached these areas. The most important were the Kingdom of Kongo, the Bunyoro-Kitara Empire, Ankole, Swahili city states, the Mutapa Empire, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, the Kingdom of Butua, and the Kingdom of Zimbabwe.

The word Zimbabwe is translated as “Houses of Stone”. Many of the important areas of this region were stone guarded or walled, since stone masonry was very advanced for the age. The other important natural resource that gave the kingdoms power was the gold. Kingdoms that controlled gold held a better trading economy. When Asian merchants reached the area (Swahili coast), ivory and gold (among other minerals) were mainly exchanged for their products. While the South and Central Africa traded most with the Portuguese, the Eastern Swahili coast was the point for Indian and Arab traders to introduce their culture and beliefs.

During the Middle Ages kingdoms expanded and declined declaring wars among themselves, and took an advantage of trading by introducing gunpowder before foreigners started to gain power and control over the area. The chronicles of the time state that the Bantu armies had great masses of archers, supported by heavy infantry. They forged ferrous tools, used both for everyday life and weapons. They are also regarded as the first users of longbows in Africa, prior to the English, though these were for hunting elephants. Horses and camels were imported, and more used for trading than for war.

Regarding the civ balance, the Bantu don’t have strong bonuses at all, but they are situational and can help in many circumstances. Bonuses can help with hunting, defending, castle dropping, trading in water maps, stretching the gold unit spam and upgrading infantry.

The Unique Unit of the castle is the Hadzabe archer, with a bonus attack against other archers. When fully upgraded, it will be a very strong Unique Unit. They also have a Unique Ship, available for all allies in Team Games, a tanky trade cog that generates not only gold, but also half of stone. The Cas

The process of steel tempering consists of applying a heat treatment to ferrous metals such as iron or steel to increase their toughness, and paradoxically decreasing their hardness. Basically the steel is made mode ductile (more flexible), which inversely makes it less brittle and less prone to break under stress.

The technique predates watches by at least a millennium and the oldest know example of tempering is a steel axe from 1200 to 1100 BC found in Galilee. Tempering was known across Asia, Europe and Africa. It was introduced in clock making and made its way into portable clocks, pocket watches and ultimately, wristwatches.

https://preview.redd.it/7ixdwnamvgz61.jpg?width=728&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d46ef916a6ae7b0c5db590f1392e7962567597a

The deep blue coating that tempering gives to steel hands and screws is a byproduct. The real purpose it to make them more flexible and less prone to breaking in case of shock or excessive force.

Tempered steel hands on an early 20th century pocket Chronometer

With the various technological advances made in metallurgy during the 19th and 20th century, newer and better steel alloys made it possible to circumvent the need for tempering. However, the trade is still taught in metal smithing workshops and watchmaking schools.

See EXPLAINED: How To Blue Steel Screws The Traditional Way – With A Flame And Lots Of Patience on SJX, 2015

It requires experience and expertise to be able to repeatedly apply an even and consistent tempering across thousands of parts. Universo SA, a division of the Swatch Group AG, has a few workers only who are tasked with tempering hands for brands such as Breguet or Longines.

In Spring 2021, we started working on a project that uses tempered steel hands. Their arrow-shaped design draws inspiration from steam engine telegraphs. Using modern day process, they are punched from a sheet of steel and subsequently given a curved surface under a hydraulic press. They are then tempered through a traditional process to achieve the desired hue.

https://preview.redd.it/nyj1hoopwgz61.jpg?width

"Beneath the Gold the Bitter Steel" is one of the most badass mottoes in the books.

The following are some admittedly rather tinfoil (goldfoil?) musings on historical metallurgy and the symbology of Aegon and the Golden Company.

First, how was the type of gilded steel armour that the Golden Company wears actually made? Historically, the most common process by which gold was applied to the surface of steel armour was firegilding, also called mercury gilding or amalgam gilding. (In chemistry, the technical definition of an "amalgam" is an alloy of mercury and another metal.) In this process, a gold amalgam (usually about 1/9 gold and 8/9 mercury) is created, which at room temperature has a similar consistency to butter. The amalgam is then applied to the surface that one wishes to gild. It can be applied directly to the surface of silver or copper, but for steel it's necessary to first add a thin layer of copper on top of the steel so that the gold amalgam has something to adhere to (gilding adheres well to copper but not to ferrous metals). The final stage involves "driving off" the mercury by intensely heating the surface in a crucible, which vaporizes the mercury and leaves the gold behind.

Why is this interesting? First, mercury is commonly referred to as "quicksilver". In the history of GRRM's world, Quicksilver was the name of the dragon ridden by the young prince Aegon Targaryen when he was killed in battle by Belarion the Black Dread (ridden by Maegor). In the current timeline, it's another young prince Aegon who plays the role of symbolic quicksilver, as he's the catalyst in a kind of reverse gilding process in which the Golden Company sets aside its golden identity (foregoing their mercenary contracts in Essos) and heads back to Westeros to resume their former Blackfyre agenda: i.e., the gilding is being stripped away to reveal the bitter steel beneath. If we think of Aegon as a quicksilver figure in the current timeline, then could he suffer a similar fate to the previous Aegon and his dragon Quicksilver, ultimately being killed by Drogon (the clear Belarion analogue in the current story)? I think that’s quite likely, especially if we remember the final stage of the gilding process (the "driving off"), in which the quicksilver/mercury is vaporized by intense heat.

Mercury was used in another metallurgical process involving steel: bluing. A corrosive solution containing mercury salts was used to give steel a bluish hue. Notably, Aegon has steel

https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateCommunism/comments/b3gjfe/chinas_drastic_decrease_in_poverty_is_a_result_of/

This subreddit that invites you to debate communists with you always losing and them getting mass upvoted, remember?

Very summarized, they explain how it's not because of the "free market" but rather because of "reorganization" and how lots of things are still in possession of the state, and how there are cooperatives too. take a good look. Introducing elements of the market for them does not "necessarily mean you're ignoring socialism".

I want to highlight this, which they quoted from a book (as it sounds horribly dictatorial, regardless of whether it's a success or not):

"The greatest misunderstanding about China is that when Deng Xiaoping came out with his reform, everybody thinks that China became a capitalist country. Only part of the economy was turned over to capitalist practices, the vast bulk of the Chinese economy is still very much Communist. Let me explain why, first off China has no private real estate, every square inch of this country is owned by the state, people are not buying land, they're buying long-term leases up to 70 years, this has a powerful impact on keeping people from amassing tremendous wealth. Secondly, the economy, all the big heavyweight industries are all state-owned. They only allow maximum 30% ownership by non-state owners, and they have very strict stock concentration laws that prevent anybody from amassing more than a tiny percentage. That's the bulk of the economy, the rest of it is the small business entrepreneurial sector that is almost all privately owned. What the Chinese do is they turn these consumer goods, these high volume, low margin industries over to the people and let them fight it out, helping keep prices and inflation down. With the government owning all the land and the huge industrial sectors, it is still very very Communist. The other thing that makes it Communist is they still have the Five-Year Plan, just like Lenin set out. The reason why China is kicking the butt off of Europe and North America is because the government has already planned to have X number of products. This is why the mixed model of a predominately government-owned economy mixed with a vibrant lower economy in the private hands is working wonders."

And this, which also makes the place sound horrible:

What is pressure vessel?

Pressure vessel is closed container which holds liquids or gasses at a pressure greater than the atmospheric pressure.

Definition of Pressure vessel as per ASME BPVC section VIII , Div 1, U1.

Pressure vessel are containers for containment of pressure, either external or internal. This pressure may be obtained from a external source or by application of heat.Heat applied is either by a direct or indirect source, or any combination thereof.

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Types of pressure vessel based on their purpose :

Storage vessel- used primarily for storage of liquids or gases in a pressurized state.

Process vessel – vessels in which any of the below operations are performed,

• separation of products
• combining products
• breaking down and
• removing various elements as by products or impurities

(Ex. Separator, reactor, distillation tower, heat exchanger, drums, fractioning tower, etc.)

Fired and Unfired pressure vessel

Fired pressure vessel – are pressure vessels where external heat source is used to keep the liquid or gas pressurized ( fire source may be direct or indirect).

Unfired Pressure Vessel- no external heat is applied.

About ASME BPVC section VIII,

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code section VIII , has 3 divisions

Division 1 : construction of pressure vessel, (15 psi to 3000 psi) It’s scope covers  Designing, fabrication, Inspection, testing and certification of pressure vessel, with internal or external pressure, operating more than 15 psi. The pressure vessel may be fired or Unfired  (max pressure is normally 3000 psi ).

Division 1 also contains mandatory and non-mandatory appendices for supplementary design requirements. NDT non destructive testing and acceptance criteria.

Division 2 : Alternative rules. ( 3,000psi to 10,000 psi )

Division 3 : Alternative rules for very high pressure vessel.( Greater than 10,000 psi )

Standard for Construction of Pressure vessel

• ASME BPVC Section VIII- Division 1 (Part UG)
• Materials Selection – Section II (Part A – Ferrous, Part B- Non Ferrous, Part D- Properties)
• Welding Materials Selection- Section II (Part C)
• Material Thickness, of Shell & tube are calculated based on the Design Pressure, Design Temperature, Radius of Shell & the Weld Joint Efficiency,

Weld

The funeral director was asking us what we think Mum should wear in her casket.

Mum always loved to wear sarongs (fabric wraps that go around the torso and drape downward a bit like a long skirt would), so my uncle suggested that she wear a sarong in there.

The funeral director looked a bit confused, as did some of our family members, to which my uncle added:

"What's sarong with that?"

I started laughing like an idiot. He was proud of it too. The funeral director was rather shocked. We assured her, and our more proper relatives, that Mum would've absolutely loved the joke (which is very true).

His delivery was perfect. I'll never forget the risk he took. We sometimes recall the moment as a way help cushion the blows of the grieving process.

--Edit-- I appreciate the condolences. I'm doing well and the worst is behind me and my family. But thanks :)

--Edit-- Massive thanks for all the awards and kind words. And the puns! Love 'em.

Because 10+10 is twenty and 11+11 is twenty too..

Edit: thank you for awards, I have never gotten one before. I apologize that this is a repost, I did see it on TikTok and thought that it was cute and wanted to share. In the future I will check the sub for similar content before I post anything.

I would have a daughter

Capital of Ireland

It's Dublin everyday

http://m.imgur.com/ImM3RWz

But Bill kept the Windows

True story; it even happened last night. My 5-year-old son walks up behind me and out of the blue says, "hey."

I turn to him and say, "yeah, kiddo? What's up?"

He responds, "it's dead grass."

I'm really confused and trying to figure out what's wrong and what he wants from me. "What? There's dead grass? What's wrong with that?"

.

.

.

He says, totally straight-faced, "hay is dead grass," and runs off.

K9P

You officially hit rock bottom

And then you will all be sorry.

No it doesn't.

Now it’s syncing.

Because he wanted space

Edit: Thank you for the awards.

He replied, "Well, stop going to those places then!"

I will find you. You have my Word.

She said how do you know he was headed to work?

“thank you for your cervix.”

...sails are going through the roof.

Mods said I'm a cereal reposter...

He thought homes were built, not born.

A taxi

But now I stand corrected.

Wait. Sorry, wrong sub.