Carbon nanotubes in Damascus steel

[DaveA]

I just stumbled across this fascinating scientific report from 2006 regarding the discovery of carbon nano-tubes in Damascus steel blades. The article explains how this "modern" nano material may have contributed to these swords' legendary properties of strength and flexibility, and how the acid etching process, rather than being purely for decorative purposes, served to expose the nano fibers at the edge. This made the blade edge serrated at the nano scale for exceptional sharpness as well as durability.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ch-swords.html

Sorry if this is too obscure, or old news, but it got me excited.

Best Regards,

David

[Timo Nieminen]

"Nano" is the flavour of the decade, so the magic of nano is pushed, both in the media (good and bad, e.g., "grey goo") and research papers.

Without doubt, that there are carbon nanotubes in the steel matters - if the excess carbon isn't in nanotubes, it will end up in graphite sheets which will seriously weaken the steel ("why is cast iron so brittle?"). So, they explain the relative lack of bad effects of such a high carbon content. Whether they explain the good properties is another story.

[DaveA]

Unless we discover time travel, or an authoritative source, we will never know. I appreciate your carbon nano-tubes flavor-of-the-month comment. However, I do think it is a promising idea, if not only to help explain Damascus steel then to inspire metallurgy for new swords.