Even wootz blades can break

Rivkin · 10th April 2005, 08:42 PM

I'm sorry to say this, but all treatments of the "wootz question" where far more historical than technology oriented.

May be it's somehow obvious that wootz is brittle due to some basic properties of wootz, but there is no experimental data that proves it - a single phrase here and there, with no description of what really happened (how many blades where purchased, where, and of what exact kind) certainly does not seem to qualify for anything.

Concerning cracks and patterns - I was always interested in reading somewhere, how exactly swords react to the physical contact (and I still hope to see someone producing a beautiful picture of time evolution of stress distribution in various swords). I think that the general picture should be completely linear (it's not like the stress is going to be supersonic in this case ?), and therefore should be really easy to obtain.

In general the stability theory (which is inapplicable in this case ?) directs that the wielding should be performed right in the middle of discontinuities in the structure - for example when you have a bridge, the most dangerous place is near to one of the ends - if, even due to thermal fluctuations, excessive stress builds up there, there can be not enough time to take it away from the bridge.
Please correct me if my memory on stability theory is wrong.

I don't think it's applicable to swords, a lot of them seem to violate this rule -wielding patterns ending right at the edge, "maiden hair" pattern etc..

10th April 2005, 08:42 PM	#8
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	I'm sorry to say this, but all treatments of the "wootz question" where far more historical than technology oriented. May be it's somehow obvious that wootz is brittle due to some basic properties of wootz, but there is no experimental data that proves it - a single phrase here and there, with no description of what really happened (how many blades where purchased, where, and of what exact kind) certainly does not seem to qualify for anything. Concerning cracks and patterns - I was always interested in reading somewhere, how exactly swords react to the physical contact (and I still hope to see someone producing a beautiful picture of time evolution of stress distribution in various swords). I think that the general picture should be completely linear (it's not like the stress is going to be supersonic in this case ?), and therefore should be really easy to obtain. In general the stability theory (which is inapplicable in this case ?) directs that the wielding should be performed right in the middle of discontinuities in the structure - for example when you have a bridge, the most dangerous place is near to one of the ends - if, even due to thermal fluctuations, excessive stress builds up there, there can be not enough time to take it away from the bridge. Please correct me if my memory on stability theory is wrong. I don't think it's applicable to swords, a lot of them seem to violate this rule -wielding patterns ending right at the edge, "maiden hair" pattern etc..