Even people far from metallurgy have heard about damask steel - a grade of the famous steel. The first information about damask blades belongs to the times of the legendary campaigns to India of Alexander the Great. Even 2300 years ago, the outlandish swords of the Hindus easily cut huge stones and with grace cut the thin silk of handkerchiefs in the air.
Gift to Europeans from King Pora
This mysterious metal with stains on the surface, like a mirage, appears and disappears again. The recipe for making damask steel was lost many times in the thick of historical events, but the armourers with enviable persistence rediscovered this great secret.
For the first time, Europeans faced damask steel on the battlefield of the army of Alexander the Great with the soldiers of the Indian king Pora. The shell of the captive king caused amazement and admiration among the Macedonians. The unusually strong white metal, as if by magic, "repelled" the weapons of the Macedonians without leaving a scratch on its surface. The wide blades of the Indians were also made of this unprecedented material, which easily chopped solid Macedonian iron into two parts. At that time, European weapons made of iron were so soft that after several powerful blows they immediately bent, so that Indian swords seemed like a miracle.
An extraordinary miracle
And the characteristics of the swords were really amazing. Strong and tough, they were very resilient at the same time. The blades could easily cut through iron nails, bending freely into an arc. After sharpening, the blade of the Indian blade turned into an extraordinary cutting weapon, easily cutting gas tissue in the air, while modern blades from the best brands of steel are able to cut only dense varieties of silk materials. No matter how hard the blacksmiths tried, they could not create the same strong weapon from hard grades of carbon steel. All blades crumbled from the blow of the Indian damask steel.
An ordinary miracle
Today, damask steel means a special grade of steel based on iron and carbon. This grade is obtained as a result of a special method of smelting, heat treatment and forging of high-carbon (1.5-2.5%) steel. The process for the production of cast damask steel is based on long-term crucible melting, which occurs at an elevated temperature, which sometimes reaches the boiling point. Immediately after melting, the metal crystallization process begins, during which a dendritic (tree-like) structure is formed. The famous moire pattern on damask blades is due to dendritic crystals. The axis of dendritic crystals consists of pure iron, and closer to the edges, an increase in carbon content is observed, which reaches a maximum figure at the points of accretion of crystals. So after the end of the crystallization process, a composite material of damask steel of the iron-carbon system is formed.
If all stages of production are strictly followed, then the metal inherits striking qualities and a characteristic pattern. A blade made of damask steel is sharpened to the sharpness of a razor, perfectly cuts wood and light fabric, cuts metal without damaging the edge of the sharpening, it can be quite bent, after which it is able to regain its original shape without any deformation.
