Family history mentions the Ledeburit with its discoverer, gives however no explanation, which is to be understood by this term, which is common all engineer students and practical men, if they are concerned with the characteristics of steel and iron. The Ledeburit was designated after the Metallurgen and professor at the mountain academy to free mountain in Saxonia Karl Heinrich Adolf Ledebur, which was probably a great-grandchild of Ernst v.Ledebur.

In normal encyclopedias the Ledeburit is not avowedly, probably however in technical and metallurgical hand and text books.

The mechanical characteristics of the different steel grades, i.e. e.g. hardness, pliancy, forging ability etc. are determined mainly by the structure structure of the steel and by its carbon content. In the blast furnace erschmolzene pig irons by different additives (alloying constituents) and by an exactly specified thermal treatment into the desired steel grade one converts. Also when improving, e.g. hardnesses, is the thermal treatment of crucial importance.

In the liquid steel melt among other things also carbon is solved beside the iron. While crystals, their structure develop for the solidification and on the cooling speed, the carbon content and the alloying constituents depend chemical composition.

In order during the steelmaking a product of continuous quality and definition-fair material properties to received, these structural transformations from the melt were scientifically investigated to the rigid crystalline structure and represented in the iron carbide diagram. This indicates axle on the temperatures of the mixture, on the other one the carbon content.

Different names were given to the different structure conditions. Ledeburit is that structure, in which unzerfallene iron mixed crystals and carbon occur as cementite (Fe3C) in the eutectic. Eutectic is that mixing proportion, in which both portions - thus iron mixed crystals and cementite - are still completely solved.

The meaning of the Metallurgen Karl H. A. Ledebur becomes clear thereby that the iron carbide diagram represents also today still the scientific basis for the production of high-grade steel and the Ledeburit a component of this diagram is.