Efforts for processing the wootz steel
As per Wikipedia “As early as the 17th century, Europeans knew of India’s ability to make crucible steel from reports brought back by travelers who had observed the process at several places in southern India. Several attempts were made to import the process, but failed because the exact technique remained a mystery”.
Michael Faraday and Wootz Steel
As per Wikipedia “Studies of Wootz were made in an attempt to understand its secrets, including a major effort by the famous scientist, Michael Faraday, son of a blacksmith. Working with a local cutlery manufacturer he wrongly concluded that it was the addition of aluminium oxide and silica from the glass that gave Wootz its unique properties.”
Superior technology of ancient india
As per Wikipedia “ “The Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparations of those ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft iron which is usually styled Indian steel (Hindiah). They also have workshops wherein are forged the most famous sabers in the world. …It is not possible to find anything to surpass the edge that you get from Indian steel (al-hadid al-Hindi)”
The above said piece of information is amply corroborated by deep study.
FIRST TIME OBSERVATION OF HIGH CARBON
“In the early 1800s, following the descriptions of crucible steel making in south India by the European travelers, there was a spurt in interest in Europe in investigating south Indian Wootz steel, from which the fabled Damascus blades were known to be made, with the aim of reproducing it on an industrial scale. Mushets studies in 1804 were one of the first to correctly conclude that there was more carbon in Wootz than in steel from England, although this idea did not gain currency until later.”
– Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, –
ATTEMPTS TO MAKE WOOTZ BY ALLOYING
“Along with the cutler Stodart, Faraday attempted to study how to make Damascus steel and they incorrectly concluded that aluminum oxide and silica additions contributed to the properties of the steel and their studies were published in 1820. They also attempted to make steel by alloying nickel and noble metals like platinum and silver and indeed Faradays studies did show that that the addition of noble metals hardens steel. Stodart reported that Wootz steel had a very fine cutting edge.”
MODERN EFFORTS
Many attempts were made by experts in replicating this unique steel. As success rate being less more and more experiments with several techniques were employed .Over a long period this curiosity and attempts lead to the development of modern metallurgy.
The following information will amplify the above.
EXHAUSTIVE EXPERIMENTS
“Following this the interest in Damascus steel moved to France. Wadsworth and Sherby have pointed out that Faradays research made a big impact in France where steel research on weapons thrived in the Napoleonic period. The struggle to characterize the nature of Wootz steel is well reflected in the efforts of Breant in the 1820s from the Paris mint who conducted an astonishing number of about 300 experiments adding a range of elements ranging from platinum, gold. Silver, copper, tin, zinc, lead, bismuth, manganese, arsenic, boron and even uranium, before he finally also came to the conclusion that the properties of Damascus steel were due to carbureted steel.”
-“Wootz steel: an advanced material of the Ancient World
S. Srinivasan and S. Ranganathan
Department Of Metallurgy, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore”
SUPERIORITY OF WOOTZ STEEL
“In the early 1900s Wootz steel continued to be studied as a special material and its properties were better understood. Belaiew reported that blades of such steel to cut a gauze handkerchief in midair. In 1912, Robert Hadfield who studied crucible steel from Sri Lanka recorded that Indian Wootz steel was far superior to that previously produced in Europe.”
— Wootz Steel: an advanced material of the Ancient World
S. Srinivasan and S. Ranganathan
Department of Metallurgy ,Indian Institute of Science ,Bangalore.
ACHIEVEMENT OF ANCIENT BHARATADESHA
THOUSANDS OF TONS OF WOOTZ STEEL EXPORTED
“These provide evidence that Wootz steel was made by crucible processes over a fairly vast geographical area of Southern India over nearly half the size of Europe in a large semi-industrial enterprise with shipments of tens of thousands of Wootz ingots being sent to places such as Persia.”
–Sharada Srinivasan and Srinivasa Ranganathan, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore and Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore
CONTRIBUTION OF WOOTZ STEEL FOR MATERIAL SCIENCE
Quote
“Materials science came into being due to the investigations into the properties of Wootz steel. As it continued to evolve in the latter half of twentieth century, it took an amazing turn.”
-Unquote
An advanced material Of the ancient world , Sharada Srinivasan and Srinivasa Ranganathan ,National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore , And Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
SUMMARY
There are several difficulties experienced for making Wootz steel with modern technologies.
From the above explanations it is apparent that different manufacturing methods were employed for the manufacture of swords in Bharathadesam.
