APD Week 5 - Play and Force

By Yuxuan Hu (Estella)

Theme： play and force

Context:

In nature, there are chemical elements that cause substances to change under the influence of external factors. What appears to be no violent means are used, but actually cause a radical change in the composition of the whole substance. Take steel, for example. Steel is made up of iron and carbon and the amount of carbon content has a great influence on the properties of steel. As the refining temperature rises, the carbon content increases to a certain level and then causes a qualitative change. The amount of carbon content is the main criterion for distinguishing steel. Pig iron contains more than 2.0% carbon; steel contains less than 2.0% carbon. Pig iron has a high carbon content, is hard and brittle, and has almost no plasticity. Steel not only has good plasticity, but also steel products have high strength, good toughness and high-temperature resistance. So when forging and firing steel, you can observe the process from pig iron to just, i.e. From brittle to soft.

Method

It was difficult to demonstrate the whole process directly because I didn't have the tools to forge the steel on hand. I then used the object engine for flexibles and turbulence in C4D to allow the planes to be flexed. Originally I wanted to make the material as steel, but during the process, there were some problems and the result was not as good as it could have been.

Response：

I wanted to show how the same material changes in different states through modelling. In order to show the qualities of steel which is tough but still hard, I did not tone the whole to move smoothly like cloth, but there will be some sharp corners present.

How iron is made animation (2020) describes the process of how pig iron is turned into steel. In addition to different combustion temperatures, there are also differences in refining techniques. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6vut9m-5xU

Reflection:

During the making of the project, it reminded me of the book How the Steel Was Tempered by Nikolai Ostrovsky from the former Soviet Union. The story follows the life of Pavel Korchagin, including his fighting in and aftermath of the Russian Civil War. Korchagin fought for the Bolsheviks during the war and was injured. The novel examines how Korchagin heals from his wounds and thus becomes as strong as steel. When I read it before, I thought it was about how to mold a man into an indestructible character. But after learning about the principles of steel making, the steel here is actually not a hard substance like a wall, but like an old tree with deep roots that slopes and bends in the face of strong winds, but eventually returns to an upright state.