Crucible Industries, commonly known as Crucible, is an American company which develops and manufactures specialty steels and is the sole producer of Crucible Particle Metallurgy (CPM) steels. The company produces high speed, stainless and tool steels for the automotive, cutlery, aerospace and machine tool industries.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. Thirteen crucible-steel companies merged in 1900 to become the largest producer of crucible steel in the United States, and this company evolved into a corporation with 1,400 employees in several states. Crucible declined in tandem with the automotive industry during the 1980s, recovering over the next decade. Although the company entered bankruptcy in 2009, a Cleveland corporation revived it as Crucible Specialty Metals Division to continue producing specialty steels at its original site.Some of Crucible's products are manufactured using a powder metallurgy process (their CPM process), resulting in steels with superior mechanical properties. 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.