ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER 2026 9 across an aircraft’s surface, making it difficult to distinguish pressure effects from temperature effects. More accurate pressure measurements could help aerospace engineers improve aircraft performance, fuel efficiency, and safety. The research team plans to test the material under a wider range of conditions to further evaluate its reliability. www.manchester.ac.uk. PREHISTORIC IRON BARS REVEAL TRADE ROUTES A team of researchers from Austria’s University of Innsbruck and France’s Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard identified the largest known assemblage of prehistoric iron bars in Europe, offering new insight into Iron Age production and trade. Discovered during gravel extraction near Deinham, Austria, along the Danube River, the assemblage contains at least 500 iron semi-products weighing more than 1 metric ton. Analysis and radiocarbon dating indicate the bars date to the La Tène period, which spanned the mid-fifth through first centuries B.C. Scientists believe the iron may have been lost in a shipwreck while being transported along the Danube for trade. The bars were potentially produced in Bavaria, Germany, where archaeological evidence points to established ironmaking centers near fortified Iron Age settlements. The quantity of iron demonstrates the scale of production and transportation networks in prehistoric Central Europe. According to lead researcher Peter Trebsche of the University of Innsbruck, the material could have been used to forge approximately 500 swords, even accounting for losses during manufacturing. The cargo’s enormous volume suggests that large quantities of iron could be transported and exchanged in a single transaction during the Late Iron Age. The discovery provides rare evidence of large-scale iron commerce Iron bar from Deinham with adhering gravel (top) along with two bars cleaned by the gravel crusher. Courtesy of Peter Trebsche, Antiquity, 2026, doi. org/10.15184/aqy.2026.10404. during a period of expanding production and increasingly organized trade. Researchers say it offers a unique opportunity to investigate how iron resources moved across the region. www.uibk.ac.at/en, www.utbm.fr/en/. EXPAND YOUR EXPERTISE WITH ASM EDUCATION & TRAINING EARN CERTIFICATES IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TECHNICAL AREAS: As an IACET Accredited Provider, ASM International offers IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. Education • Applied General Metallurgy • Corrosion: Chemical & Elevated Temperature • Failure Analysis • Ferrous Metallurgy • Heat Treating • Non-Ferrous Metallurgy • Testing & Inspection • Welding Metallurgy
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