The present study investigates for the first time a largely forgotten pyrotechnology for manufacturing artificial millstones for Persian windmills and querns from Islamic period Sistan, a region in southeastern Iran. The unusual characteristics of these materials result from melting a sand-clay mixture at high temperatures. A unique experimental and multianalytical method was developed to understand the heating-cooling regime for manufacturing artificial millstones and other technical details of their production. According to chemical and microstructural analyses, these materials were melted between 1150 °C and 1250 °C and kept there for a period of 14–20 h, to be subsequently cooled down by 10–50 °C/h. Our experimental results for reproducing the microstructure of these objects show that any other temperature regime would be unsuccessful for manufacturing a functional millstone for these huge windmills which are usually referred to as the first wind turbines in the history of technology.

本研究首次调查了一种在很大程度上被遗忘的火法技术，该技术用于为伊朗东南部伊斯兰时期的锡斯坦地区的波斯风车和 quern 制造人造磨石。这些材料的不寻常特性源于在高温下熔化砂粘土混合物。开发了一种独特的实验和多分析方法，以了解制造人造磨石的加热-冷却方式及其生产的其他技术细节。根据化学和微观结构分析，这些材料在 1150°C 和 1250°C 之间熔化并在那里保持 14-20 小时，随后以 10-50°C/h 的速度冷却。