Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik
MM 20: Poster session
MM 20.32: Poster
Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 14:45–18:00, Poster C
Microstructure in Damascus Sabres — •Marianne Reibold1, Peter Paufler1, Dirk Meyer1, Alexander Levin1, and Werner Kochmann2 — 1Institut für Strukturphysik, TU Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany — 2Krüllsstrasse 4b, D-06766 Wolfen
Damascus steel is famous for its beauty and excellent mechanical properties. Damascus blades - originating in India - were manufactured from so-called "wootz" steel.
For a better understanding of the ancient technology by analysis of the microstructure of damascene steel, high-resolution electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction are eligible tools. The specimens investigated were taken from a genuine Damascus sabre produced by the blacksmith Assad Ullah in the seventeenth century.
The main results are as follows: Besides ferrite and perlitic cementite, we observed a third form of cementite forming so-called nanowires. These nanowires often arrange in colonies. Preferably, the {010}-lattice planes of the nanowires are oriented along the longitudinal direction. The surrounding of the nanowires often could be idendified as alpha-ferrite.
After dissolution of the sample in hydrochloric acid, carbon-nanotubes became visible. Some remnants showed evidence of incompletely dissolved cementite nanowires, indicating that these wires could have been encapsulated and protected by the carbon nanotubes. [1]
[1] Reibold et al., Nature 444,(2006) 286.