History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c39.s3.15

v1.c39.s3.15

India was the first to obtain (on or before fourth century B.C.) pure zinc by reduction-distillation and use it for making high quality brass (Biswas, 1993). During this period, hardened and quenched steel showing tempered martensitic structure was produced (Chattopadhyaya and De, 1989). Such remarkable technical achievements were made when indigenous efforts successfully withstood the challenges from the external world (Persian and then Greek).