Wootz steel
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(October 2021) |
Wootz steelis acrucible steelcharacterized by a pattern of bands and high carbon content. These bands are formed by sheets of microscopiccarbideswithin a temperedmartensiteorpearlitematrix in higher-carbon steel,or byferriteand pearlite banding in lower-carbon steels. It was a pioneeringsteel alloydeveloped insouthern Indiain the mid-1st millennium BC and exported globally.[1]
History
[edit]Wootz steel originated in the mid-1st millennium BCE in India, wootz steel was made inGolcondainTelangana,Karnatakaand Sri Lanka.[2][3][4][5]The steel was exported as cakes of steely iron that came to be known as "wootz".[6]The method was to heat blackmagnetiteore in the presence of carbon in a sealed clay crucible inside a charcoal furnace to completely removeslag.An alternative was to smelt the ore first to givewrought iron,then heat and hammer it to remove slag. The carbon source was bamboo and leaves from plants such asAvārai.[6][7]Locals in Sri Lanka adopted the production methods of creating wootz steel from theCherasby the 5th century BC.[8]In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed a unique wind furnace, driven by the monsoon winds. Production sites from antiquity have emerged, in places such asAnuradhapura,TissamaharamaandSamanalawewa,as well as imported artifacts of ancient iron and steel from Kodumanal. Recent archaeological excavations (2018) of the Yodhawewa site (inMannarDistrict) discovered a lower half-spherical furnace, crucible fragments, and lid fragments related to the crucible steel production through the carburization process.[9]In the South East of Sri Lanka, there were some of the oldest iron and steel artifacts and production processes to the island from theclassical period.[10][11][12][13]
Trade between India and Sri Lanka through theArabian Seaintroduced wootz steel to Arabia. The termmuhannadمهند orhendeyyهندي in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabic refers to sword blades made from Indian steel, which were highly prized, and are attested inArabic poetry.Further trade spread the technology to the city ofDamascus,where an industry developed for making weapons of this steel. This led to the development ofDamascus steel.The 12th century Arab travelerEdrisimentioned the "Hinduwani" or Indian steel as the best in the world.[14]Arab accounts also point to the fame of 'Teling' steel, which can be taken to refer to the region ofTelangana.TheGolcondaregion of Telangana clearly being the nodal center for the export of wootz steel to West Asia.[14]
Another sign of its reputation is seen in a Persian phrase – to give an "Indian answer", meaning "a cut with an Indian sword".[8]Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout ancientEuropeand theArab world,and became particularly famous in theMiddle East.[8]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Wootz_Steel_Detail.jpg/170px-Wootz_Steel_Detail.jpg)
Development of modern metallurgy
[edit]From the 17th century onwards, several European travelers observed the steel manufacturing in South India, atMysore,MalabarandGolconda.The word "wootz" appears to have originated as a mistranscription of Sanskrit terms; theSanskritroot word for the alloy isutsa.[15]Another[which?]theory says that the word is a variation ofuchchaorucha[dubious–discuss]( "superior" ). According to one theory, the wordukkuis based on the meaning "melt, dissolve". OtherDravidian languageshave similar-sounding words for steel:ukkuinKannada[16][17]andTelugu,andurukkuinMalayalam.WhenBenjamin Heyneinspected the Indian steel inCeded Districtsand other Kannada-speaking areas, he was informed that the steel wasucha kabbina( "superior iron" ), also known asukku tunduin Mysore.[18][19]
Legends of wootz steel and Damascus swords aroused the curiosity of the European scientific community from the 17th to the 19th century. The use of high-carbonalloyswas little known in Europe[20]previously and thus the research into wootz steel played an important role in the development of modern English, French and Russianmetallurgy.[21]
In 1790, samples of wootz steel were received by SirJoseph Banks,president of the BritishRoyal Society,sent byHelenus Scott.These samples were subjected to scientific examination and analysis by several experts.[22][23][24]
Specimens of daggers and other weapons were sent by the Rajas of India tothe Great Exhibitionin London in 1851 and1862 International Exhibition.Though the arms of the swords were beautifully decorated and jeweled, they were most highly prized for the quality of their steel. The swords of the Sikhs were said to bear bending and crumpling, and yet be fine and sharp.[8]
Characteristics
[edit]Wootz is characterized by a pattern caused by bands of clusteredFe
3Cparticles made by melting of low levels of carbide-forming elements.[25]Wootz contains greater carbonaceous matter than common qualities of cast steel.[citation needed]
The distinct patterns of wootz steel that can be made through forging are wave, ladder, and rose patterns with finely spaced bands. However, with hammering, dyeing, andetchingfurther customized patterns were made.[26]
The presence ofcementitenanowiresand carbon nanotubes has been identified by Peter Pepler ofTU Dresdenin the microstructure of wootz steel.[27]There is a possibility of an abundance of ultrahard metallic carbides in the steel matrix precipitating out in bands. Wootz swords were renowned for their sharpness andtoughness.
Composition
[edit]T. H. Henry analyzed and recorded the composition of wootz steel samples provided by theRoyal School of Mines.Recording:
Wootz steel was analyzed byMichael Faradayand recorded to contain 0.01-0.07%aluminium.Faraday, Messrs (et al.), and Stodart hypothesized that aluminium was needed in the steel and was important in forming the excellent properties of wootz steel. However T. H. Henry deduced that presence of aluminium in the wootz used by these studies was due toslag,forming as silicates. Percy later reiterated that the quality of wootz steel does not depend on the presence of aluminium.[28]
Reproduction research
[edit]Wootz steel has been reproduced and studied in depth by the Royal School of Mines.[29]Dr. Pearson was the first to chemically examine wootz in 1795 and he published his contributions to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[30]
Russian metallurgistPavel Petrovich Anosov(seeBulat steel) was almost able to reproduce ancient wootz steel with nearly all of its properties and the steel he created was very similar to traditional wootz.[citation needed]He documented four different methods of producing wootz steel that exhibited traditional patterns.[citation needed]He died before he could fully document and publish his research. Oleg Sherby and Jeff Wadsworth andLawrence Livermore National Laboratoryhave all done research, attempting to create steels with characteristics similar to wootz, but without success.[citation needed]J.D Verhoeven and Alfred Pendray reconstructed methods of production, proved the role of impurities of ore in the pattern creation, and reproduced wootz steel with patterns microscopically and visually identical to one of the ancient blade patterns.[citation needed]Reibold et al.'s analyses spoke of the presence of carbon nanotubes enclosing nanowires of cementite, with the trace elements/impurities ofvanadium,molybdenum,chromiumetc. contributing to their creation, in cycles of heating/cooling/forging. This resulted in a hard high carbon steel that remained malleable[31]
There are smiths who are now consistently producing wootz steel blades visually identical to the old patterns.[32]Steel manufactured inKutchparticularly enjoyed a widespread reputation, similar to those manufactured atGlasgowandSheffield.[8]
Wootz was made over nearly a 2,000-year period (the oldest sword samples date to around 200 CE)[citation needed]and the methods of production of ingots, the ingredients, and the methods of forging varied from one area to the next. Some wootz blades displayed a pattern, while some did not.[citation needed]Heat treating was quite different from forging, and there were many different patterns that were created by the various smiths who spanned from China to Scandinavia.[citation needed]
With fellow experts, the Georgian-Dutch master armourerGocha LaghidzeLagidse and fellow experts developed in de 2000s a new method to reintroduce 'Georgian Damascus steel'. In 2010, he and his colleagues gave a masterclass on this at theRoyal Academy of Fine Artsin Antwerp.[33][34]
See also
[edit]- Toledo steel
- Damascus steel
- Noric steel
- Bulat steel
- Tamahagane steel
- Ferrous metallurgy
- Iron pillar of Delhi
- Pattern welding
References
[edit]- ^J.-S. Park K. Rajan R. Ramesh (2020)."High-carbon steel and ancient sword-making as observed in a double-edged sword from an Iron Age megalithic burial in Tamil Nadu, India".Archaeometry.62:68–80.doi:10.1111/arcm.12503.
- ^Srinivasan, Sharada (15 November 1994)."Wootz crucible steel: a newly discovered production site in India".Papers from the Institute of Archaeology.5:49–59.doi:10.5334/pia.60.
- ^Wijepala, W. M. T. B.; Young, Sansfica M.; Ishiga, Hiroaki (1 April 2022)."Reading the archaeometallurgical findings of Yodhawewa site, Sri Lanka: contextualizing with South Asian metal history".Asian Archaeology.5(1): 21–39.doi:10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0.ISSN2520-8101.S2CID247355036.
- ^Coghlan, Herbert Henery (1977).Notes on prehistoric and early iron in the Old World(2nd ed.).Pitt Rivers Museum.pp. 99–100.
- ^Sasisekharan, B. (1999)."Technology of Iron and Steel in Kodumanal"(PDF).Indian Journal of History of Science.34(4). Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 24 July 2015.
- ^abDavidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis (1998).The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature.Boydell & Brewer. p. 20.ISBN978-0-85115-716-0.
- ^Burton, Sir Richard Francis(1884).The Book of the Sword.London: Chatto & Windus. p. 111.
- ^abcdeManning, Charlotte Speir.Ancient and Medieval India.Vol. 2. p. 365.ISBN978-0-543-92943-3.
- ^Wijepala, W. M. T. B.; Young, Sansfica M.; Ishiga, Hiroaki (1 April 2022)."Reading the archaeometallurgical findings of Yodhawewa site, Sri Lanka: contextualizing with South Asian metal history".Asian Archaeology.5(1): 21–39.doi:10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0.ISSN2520-8101.S2CID247355036.
- ^Hobbies(April 1963) Vol. 68, No.5, p.45, Chicago:Lightner Publishing Company.
- ^Mahathevan, Iravatham (24 June 2010)."An epigraphic perspective on the antiquity of Tamil".The Hindu.The Hindu Group.Retrieved31 October2010.
- ^Ragupathy, P. (28 June 2010)."Tissamaharama potsherd evidences ordinary early Tamils among population".Tamilnet.Retrieved31 October2010.
- ^"Dinithi"(PDF).Sri Lanka Archaeology.1(4). February 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^abSrinivasan, Sharada; Ranganathan, Srinivasa (2004)."India's Legendary Wootz Steel: An Advanced Material of the Ancient World".Iron & Steel Heritage of India:69–82.OCLC82439861.
- ^Pande, Girija; af Geijerstam, Jan (2002).Tradition and innovation in the history of iron making: an Indo-European perspective.Pahar Parikarma. p. 45.ISBN978-81-86246-19-1.
- ^Narasimha, Roddam; Srinivasan, J.; Biswas, S. K. (2003).The Dynamics of Technology: Creation and Diffusion of Skills and Knowledge.SAGE Publications. p. 135.ISBN978-0-7619-9670-5.
- ^Michael Faraday,as quoted byDay, Peter (1 January 1999).The Philosopher's Tree.Bristol, UK: Institute of Physics Publishing. p. 108.ISBN978-0-7503-0571-6.
- ^Balfour, Edward (1885).The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures.Bernard Quaritch. p.1092.
- ^Jeans, James Stephen (1880).Steel: Its History, Manufacture, Properties and Uses.E. & F.N. Spon. p. 294.
- ^Godfrey, Evelyne; van Nie, Matthijs (2004)."A Germanic ultrahigh carbon steel punch of the Late Roman-Iron Age"(PDF).Journal of Archaeological Science.31(8): 1117–25.Bibcode:2004JArSc..31.1117G.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.02.002.
- Paul Rincon (12 May 2004)."Iron Age tool marks move to steel".BBC News.
- ^Smith, Cyril Stanley (2012).A History of Metallography: The Development of Ideas on the Structure of Metals Before 1890.Literary Licensing.ISBN978-1-258-47336-5.
- ^Pearson, George(1 January 1795)."Experiments and Observations to Investigate the Nature of a Kind of Steel, Manufactured at Bombay, and There Called Wootz: With Remarks on the Properties and Composition of the Different States of Iron".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.85.Royal Society of London:322–346.doi:10.1098/rstl.1795.0020.JSTOR106960.
- ^Mushet, D.(1 January 1805). "Experiments on Wootz".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.95:163–175.doi:10.1098/rstl.1805.0010.JSTOR107164.S2CID115267901.
- ^Hadfield, Robert(1932)."A Research on Faraday's" Steel and Alloys ".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.230(681–693): 221–292.Bibcode:1932RSPTA.230..221H.doi:10.1098/rsta.1932.0007.JSTOR91231.
- ^Verhoeven, Pendray & Dauksch 1998
- ^Durand-Charre, Madeleine (2004).Microstructure of Steels and Cast Irons.Springer.ISBN978-3-540-20963-8.
- ^Sanderson, Katharine (15 November 2006)."Sharpest cut from nanotube sword".Nature.doi:10.1038/news061113-11.S2CID136774602.
- ^Percy, John (1864).Metallurgy: The Art of Extracting Metals from Their Ores, and Adapting Them to Various Purposes of Manufacture.J. Murray.p.183.
- ^Ure, Andrew (1821).A Dictionary of Chemistry: On the Basis of Mr. Nicholson's, in which the Principles of the Science are Investigated Anew and Its Applications to the Phenomena of Nature, Medicine, Mineralogy, Agriculture, and Manufactures Detailed.Robert Desilver. p.45.
- ^Neogi, Panchanan (1914).Iron in ancient India.Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
- ^Reibold, Marianne; Paufler, Peter; Levin, Aleksandr A.; Kochmann, Werner; Pätzke, Nora; Meyer, Dirk C. (2009). "Discovery of Nanotubes in Ancient Damascus Steel".Physics and Engineering of New Materials.Springer Proceedings in Physics.Vol. 127.Springer.pp. 305–310.Bibcode:2009penm.book..305R.doi:10.1007/978-3-540-88201-5_35.ISBN978-3-540-88200-8.
- ^Sherby, Oleg; Wadsworth, Jeffrey (23 November 2001)."Ancient blacksmiths, the Iron Age, Damascus steels, and modem metallurgy".Journal of Materials Processing Technology.117(3): 347–353.doi:10.1016/S0924-0136(01)00794-4.
- ^Lagidse, Gotscha; Visser, Seerp; Remmen, Klaas, Gotscha (2011)."Bulat, een Wonderstaal".Wapenfeiten(in Dutch) (3).
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:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Nino Lordkipanidze,Georgian Damascus, in special issue ofNational Geographic,2021,pp. 138-139
Further reading
[edit]- Srinivasan, Sharada (1994)."Wootz crucible steel: a newly discovered production site in South India".Papers from the Institute of Archaeology.5:49–59.doi:10.5334/pia.60.
- Srinivasan, S.; Griffiths, D. "South Indian wootz: evidence for high-carbon steel from crucibles from a newly identified site and preliminary comparisons with related finds".Material Issues in Art and Archaeology.462.
- Hansson, Staffan (2002).Den skapande människan[The creative mind] (in Swedish). Lund, Sweden:StudentlitteraturAB. p. 81.ISBN978-9-14402-148-5.
- urukku - from the Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras
- "Special Issue: History and Characteristics of Wootz Steel in India and Abroad".Indian Journal of History of Science.42(3). September 2007.
- Srinivasan, Sharada; Ranganathan, Srinivasan (2004).India's Legendary Wootz Steel: an advanced material of the ancient world.Bangalore:National Institute of Advanced StudiesandIndian Institute of Science.
- Verhoeven, J. D. (January 2001). "The Mystery of Damascus Blades".Scientific American.284(1): 74–79.Bibcode:2001SciAm.284a..74V.doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0101-74.JSTOR26059015.PMID11132427.
External links
[edit]- Verhoeven, J.D.; Pendray, A.H.; Dauksch, W.E. (1998)."The key role of impurities in ancient Damascus steel blades".JOM.50(9): 58–64.Bibcode:1998JOM....50i..58V.doi:10.1007/s11837-998-0419-y.S2CID135854276.
- Verhoeven, J.D.; Pendray, A.H.; Dauksch, W.E. (September 2004). "The continuing study of damascus steel: Bars from the alwar armory".JOM.56(9): 17–20.Bibcode:2004JOM....56i..17V.doi:10.1007/s11837-004-0193-4.S2CID137555792.
- Verhoeven, J.D. (2007)."Pattern Formation in Wootz Damascus Steel Swords and Blades"(PDF).Indian Journal of History of Science.42(4): 559–574.
- Wootz Militaria
- Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Provos, Niels (3 May 2013).Wootz Ep 4: Making Wootz Steel.YouTube.
- Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Loades, Mike;Pendray, Al (21 November 2017).The Secrets of Wootz Damascus Steel.YouTube.
- US 5185044,Verhoeven, J.D. & Pendray, A.H., "Method of making" Damascus "blades", published 9 February 1993