acierate

French aciérage, from acier (“steel”).

acierate (third-person singular simple present acierates, present participle acierating, simple past and past participle acierated)

1. (rare) To convert iron into steel, or to coat with a layer of steel by converting only the surface of the iron.

   The success of an attempt to acierate iron will depend on the amount of nitrogen contained by the iron during carburation.

   As an economy measure, the manufacturer decided to use iron rather than steel, but to acierate the surface to limit oxidation.

   • 1861 June 22, M. Fremy, “On the Chemical Composition of Cast Iron and Steel”, in The Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science‎, volume 3, page 375:

     The effect of manganese, whose influence on acieration is known to all manufacturers, is probably due to its rapid oxidation, thus producing a metallic oxide capable of completing the fining of the iron, and this, by eliminating any foreign body, facilitates the acierating process.

   • 1906, Edgcumbe Staley, The guilds of Florence‎, page 306:

     It was noted by Biringuccio in 1540, and described by Agricola in "De Re Metallica" 1561 — that a bar of wrought iron, kept immersed long in molten cast iron, became acierated by taking up the carbon of the cast iron.

   • 1992, Vietnam Opportunities: The Official Vietnamese Business Guide, page 334:

     Activities: Production of stone crushers (capacity from 0.3 to 2.5 metric tonnes a batch), blasting machines (compression capacity of 160 tonnes), and steel-acierating machines.

• acieration
• acierage