This condition occurs when certain impurities, notably phosphorus in steel and iron, segregate at the grain boundaries. While the metal might be perfectly ductile when hot, it loses its impact toughness and shatters under stress at room temperature or below. Historic ironmasters constantly battled this defect when smelting ores with high phosphorus content.
Heard on the job
That batch of wrought iron is completely cold short, snapping like glass the second you hit it with a hammer on the anvil.
Also heard as
- cold-shortness
Do not mix it up with
- Hot-short: Cold short means brittle at room temperature (often due to phosphorus), whereas hot short means brittle at forging temperatures (often due to sulfur).