GT Obach and Ann,
I have been wondering about Martensitic (quench hardened) Wootz. I imagine that the practical difficulty would have been the avoidance of re-dissolving the iron carbides whilst Austenitizing and then upon quenching ending up with retained Austenite, as well as Martensite, which is a trait of high carbon steels and potentially disastrous to toughness.
I suppose that this could have been minimized by keeping the Asutenitizing temperature as low as possible, but in the absence of modern temperature measurement apparatus and knowing how to deal with the problem, I just cannot see how the ancients managed to get over it. Any thoughts?
Cheers
Chris
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