Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24.247.108.45-20130607213225/@comment-34559084-20191010173820

I know I'm super late to the conversation, but in the late 1800s Corundum WAS used in steel production:

"At the time, corundum was used as an abrasive, to cut and polish steel, as a hardener in the making of steel wheels for locomotives and train cars, and finally for grinding optical lenses."

So, it IS feasible that they simply meant it to be included in the production of steel to make it seem a little more complicated. Like the chemist above said, it's basically a stand-in for "all the stuff you add to make steel" instead of trying to add in nickel and chromi and charcoal and all these other complexities. Skyrim corundum could just be seen as "all of the above."