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Sharpest cut from nanotube sword

Carbon nanotech may have given swords of Damascus their edge

Think carbon nanotubes are new-fangled? Think again. The Crusaders felt the might of the tube when they fought against the Muslims and their distinctive, patterned Damascus blades.

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Posted by Katharine Sanderson on November 15, 2006
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You say the secret for making Wootz steel is lost. Doing a quick Google search, this person claims to make Wootz steel blades http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/ maybe the secret isn't lost after all?

Posted by: David Runyon | November 17, 2006 04:14 PM

See this article regarding work done ~1998 researching and recreating Damascus steel.

http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9809/Verhoeven-9809.html

Posted by: Steve Morse | November 17, 2006 09:30 PM

Having exhorted _Scientific American _ to popularize the work of metallurgist Verhoeven on the role of vanadium and other transition metal ore impurities in medieval Indian wootz making, and master blacksmith Pendray's literal deconvolution of how ' Damascus ' patterns are formed by forging hypereutectoid steel, it saddens me to see nanotech boosters once again laying claim to turf anciently claimed by Victoran colloid scientists .

Their tactic is semantic agrssion , nucleated on a grain of truth- all crystellites start small, and preciitating carbides- or carbon in hot iron is no exception.

But if we accept the premise that any sheet of graphene rolling over on itself is a nanotube, then
nanotubes desrve credit for some( albeit indetectably little ) of the strength of everything from cast iron radiators to frying pans.

Posted by: Russell Seitz | November 22, 2006 02:48 PM

In japan,engineers evaluated that carbon fiber is not eco-friendly material because it is made from fossil fuels such as oil if huge amount of it use.In japan,lightneing of automobile weight is developed by using super high strength steel.But the problem is that it costs much. Because super high strength steel is extremely rigid,cold stamping die lifespan is shorter at the process of making body or frame.
But Hitachi Metals developed high performance tool steel SLD-MAGIC,the problem is solved by using this materials.


Posted by: Dorge | February 3, 2009 12:37 PM

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