Although many types of modern steel outperform ancient Damascus alloys, chemical reactions in the production process made the blades extraordinary for their time, as Damascus steel was superplastic and very hard at the same time. A research team in Germany published a report in 2006 revealing nanowires and carbon nanotubes in a blade forged from Damascus steel, although John Verhoeven of Iowa State University in Ames, suggests the research team which reported nanowires in crucible steel was seeing cementite, which can itself exist as rods, so there might not be any carbon nanotubes in the rod-like structure. The reputation and history of Damascus steel has given rise to many legends, such as the ability to cut through a rifle barrel or to cut a hair falling across the blade, though the accuracy of these legends is not reflected by the extant examples of patterned crucible steel swords which are often tempered in such a way as to retain a bend after being flexed past their elastic limit. When a knife or sword is wiped clean and treated with 'gold thread' alum, appears.
Some have a spiral self-patterning, while others have a sesame-seed or snowflake patterning. The segregation of elements into dendritic and interdendritic regions throughout the sampleīy these definitions, modern recreations of crucible steel are consistent with historic examples.īin iron: It is produced by the Western Barbarians.The formation of dendrites is a typical characteristic.The crucible steel was liquid, leading to a relatively homogeneous steel content with virtually no slag.Identification of crucible "Damascus" steel based on metallurgical structures is difficult, as crucible steel cannot be reliably distinguished from other types of steel by just one criterion, so the following distinguishing characteristics of crucible steel must be taken into consideration:
Macroscopic section of crucible steel (left) and false color labeling (right) showing rafts rich in carbide forming elements (CFEs) which lead to clustered cementite spheroids, as well as divorced cementite spheroids.
It may either refer to swords made or sold in Damascus directly, or it may just refer to the aspect of the typical patterns, by comparison with Damask fabrics (also named for Damascus), or it may indeed stem from the root word of "damas". The most common explanation is that steel is named after Damascus, the capital city of Syria and one of the largest cities in the ancient Levant.
The origin of the name "Damascus Steel" is contentious: the Islamic scholars al-Kindi (full name Abu Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, circa 800 CE – 873 CE) and al-Biruni (full name Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, circa 973 CE – 1048 CE) both wrote about swords and steel made for swords, based on their surface appearance, geographical location of production or forging, or the name of the smith, and each mentions "damascene" or "damascus" swords to some extent.ĭrawing from al-Kindi and al-Biruni, there are three potential sources for the term "Damascus" in the context of steel:
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