THE KEY ROLE OF IMPURITIES IN ANCIENT DAMASCUS STEEL BLADES

The art of producing the famous 16-18th century Damascus steel blades found in many museums was lost long ago. Recently, however research ha s established strong evidence supporting the theory that the distinct surface patterns on these blades result from a carbide-banding phenome non produced by the microsegregation of minor amounts of carbide-formi ng elements present in the wootz ingots from which the blades were for ged. Further; it is likely that wootz Damascus blades with damascene p atterns may have been produced only from wootz ingots supplied from th ose regions of India having appropriate impurity-containing ore deposi ts.