[5][6] Crucible's history spans over 100 years, and the company inherited some of its ability to produce high-grade steel from England beginning in the late 1800s.

These steels find specialized scientific and industrial applications and are also favoured by knife makers for the production of blades which are tough, hard and corrosion resistant.

[10] From 1900 through the 20th century, Crucible developed and patented new steels, and brought new steel-production methods to the United States.

Two years later, he left Crucible, building the Halcomb Steel mill next door (where he installed the first electric-arc melting furnace in the U.S.).

[12] In 1984, Crucible made the titanium alloy used in the artificial heart implanted by Robert Jarvik, and donated corrosive-resistant steel used to help renovate the Statue of Liberty.

[7] During the 1990s, Crucible expanded its operations to Canada, working with General Motors, and building a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) facility with newly patented smelting and processing equipment costing $25 million.

[7] A number of steel companies have operated in Syracuse, maintaining Crucible's intellectual property and patents.

According to ExplorePAHistory.com, "By 1877, the region's fourteen medium-scale crucible steel factories produced nearly three-fourths of the nation's output.

[22] Crucible patented the first formally classified high-speed steel, AISI T1 (German 18-0-1), in 1910, and its basic formula was used for the next forty years.

[12][26] During the 1920s and 1930s, World War I financier Horace S. Wilkinson oversaw Crucible president Frederick B. Hufnagel, refusing to modernize and controlling the company's finances as he pleased.

[27] On December 7, 1941, when the U.S. entered World War II, Syracuse was considered the Porretta Terme (Italy's gear-producing center)[citation needed] of America.

[8] In 1945 William P. Snyder Jr., president of Snyder Mining Company of Pittsburgh and a Crucible stockholder, brought in president William H. Colvin Jr. With the board's approval, Colvin closed four of the company's eleven operations and began a $46 million modernization.

Iron Age, manufacturer of the hot reversing mill, called this a transition from a curiosity to standard production practice; ovens on both sides of the rolls could better control the steel's temperature.

[27][29] When Crucible removed escape clauses from its employee contracts after the war, the company received approval from the United Steelworkers.

[30] During the 1950s, shortages of tungsten and vanadium caused by the wartime drive for cheaper alloying metals resulted in the development of AISI M2 high-speed steel.

[32] In 1983 Colt Industries consolidated its basic-materials group into the Crucible Materials Corporation, with its headquarters in New York City.

In 1984 Crucible manufactured the titanium alloy used in the artificial heart implanted by Robert Jarvik, and donated corrosion-resistant steel for the renovation of the Statue of Liberty.

The Crucible Service Centers Division opened its Camillus, New York headquarters in 1989, marketing specialty steel products worldwide.

In 1991 Crucible Materials and General Motors' Central Foundry Division begin three years of joint research and development in die casting, tooling and machine elements, and Crucible Materials Corporation purchased Sanderson Specialty Steels of Canada.

By 1998 CMC employed 820 workers and invested $25 million in a new, 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) facility for manufacturing newly patented smelting and processing equipment.

In 2004 Crucible Specialty Metals entered the knife market, moving its Camillus operation to the Geddes plant.

According to Crucible president James Beckman, "Latrobe Distribution offers everything we wanted in a partner for our CPM grades of steel".

[6] In December 2024, Crucible Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in 15 years after concerns that the company may shut down its operations by 2025.

The steel slowly solidifies, allowing the elements to segregate into non-uniform patterns at the microscopic level.

High-pressure gas atomizes the liquid stream into a spray which rapidly cools the steel into a uniform powder.