Wootz steel

Wootz steel originated in the mid-1st millennium BC in India, wootz steel was made in Golconda in Telangana, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka.{{cite journal |first=Sharada |last=Srinivasan |date=15 November 1994 |title=Wootz crucible steel: a newly discovered production site in India |journal=Papers from the Institute of Archaeology |volume=5 |pages=49–59 |doi=10.5334/pia.60|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Wijepala |first1=W. M. T. B. |last2=Young |first2=Sansfica M. |last3=Ishiga |first3=Hiroaki |date=2022-04-01 |title=Reading the archaeometallurgical findings of Yodhawewa site, Sri Lanka: contextualizing with South Asian metal history |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0 |journal=Asian Archaeology |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=21–39 |doi=10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0 |s2cid=247355036 |issn=2520-8101}}{{cite book |first=Herbert Henery |last=Coghlan |year=1977 |title=Notes on prehistoric and early iron in the Old World |pages=99–100 |edition=2nd |publisher=Pitt Rivers Museum}}{{cite journal |first=B. |last=Sasisekharan |year=1999 |url=http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b66_263.pdf |title=Technology of Iron and Steel in Kodumanal |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=34 |number=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724033115/http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b66_263.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2015}} The steel was exported as cakes of steely iron that came to be known as "wootz".{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Roderick Ellis |title=The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nY0T9n4zAQAC&pg=PA20 |date=1998 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-85115-716-0 |page=20}} The method was to heat black magnetite ore in the presence of carbon in a sealed clay crucible inside a charcoal furnace to completely remove slag. An alternative was to smelt the ore first to give wrought iron, then heat and hammer it to remove slag. The carbon source was bamboo and leaves from plants such as Avārai.{{cite book |last=Burton |first=Sir Richard Francis |author-link=Richard Francis Burton |title=The Book of the Sword |year=1884 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=London |page=111 |url=https://archive.org/stream/booksword00unkngoog#page/n152/mode/2up}} Locals in Sri Lanka adopted the production methods of creating wootz steel from the Cheras by the 5th century BC.{{cite book |last=Manning |first=Charlotte Speir |title=Ancient and Medieval India |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmESJR3a0RYC&pg=PA365 |isbn=978-0-543-92943-3 |page=365}} In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed a unique wind furnace, driven by the monsoon winds. Production sites from antiquity have emerged, in places such as Anuradhapura, Tissamaharama and Samanalawewa, as well as imported artifacts of ancient iron and steel from Kodumanal. Recent archaeological excavations (2018) of the Yodhawewa site (in Mannar District) discovered the lower half of a spherical furnace, crucible fragments, and lid fragments related to the crucible steel production through the carburization process.{{Cite journal |last1=Wijepala |first1=W. M. T. B. |last2=Young |first2=Sansfica M. |last3=Ishiga |first3=Hiroaki |date=2022-04-01 |title=Reading the archaeometallurgical findings of Yodhawewa site, Sri Lanka: contextualizing with South Asian metal history |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0 |journal=Asian Archaeology |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=21–39 |doi=10.1007/s41826-022-00046-0 |s2cid=247355036 |issn=2520-8101}} In the South East of Sri Lanka, there were some of the oldest iron and steel artifacts and production processes to the island from the classical period.Hobbies (April 1963) Vol. 68, No.5, p.45, Chicago: Lightner Publishing Company.{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/An-epigraphic-perspective-on-the-antiquity-of-Tamil/article16265606.ece |title=An epigraphic perspective on the antiquity of Tamil |last=Mahathevan |first=Iravatham |date=24 June 2010 |newspaper=The Hindu |publisher=The Hindu Group |access-date=31 October 2010}}{{cite news |url=http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=32303 |title=Tissamaharama potsherd evidences ordinary early Tamils among population |last=Ragupathy |first=P. |date=28 June 2010 |work=Tamilnet |access-date=31 October 2010}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.archaeology.lk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Dinithi-Volume-1-Issue-4.pdf |date=February 2012 |title=Dinithi |volume=1 |issue=4 |journal=Sri Lanka Archaeology }}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Trade between India and Sri Lanka through the Arabian Sea introduced wootz steel to Arabia. The term muhannad مهند or hendeyy هندي in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabic refers to sword blades made from Indian steel, which were highly prized, and are attested in Arabic poetry. Further trade spread the technology to the city of Damascus, where an industry developed for making weapons of this steel. This led to the development of Damascus steel. The 12th century Arab traveler Edrisi mentioned the "Hinduwani" or Indian steel as the best in the world.{{cite journal |first1=Sharada |last1=Srinivasan |first2=Srinivasa |last2=Ranganathan |title=India's Legendary Wootz Steel: An Advanced Material of the Ancient World |url=http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/WOOTZ.htm |year=2004 |journal=Iron & Steel Heritage of India |pages=69–82 |oclc=82439861}} Arab accounts also point to the fame of 'Teling' steel, which can be taken to refer to the region of Telangana. The Golconda region of Telangana clearly being the nodal center for the export of wootz steel to West Asia.

Another sign of its reputation is seen in a Persian phrase{{spaced ndash}}to give an "Indian answer", meaning "a cut with an Indian sword". Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout ancient Europe and the Arab world, and became particularly famous in the Middle East.

File:Wootz Steel Detail.jpg

From the 17th century onwards, several European travelers observed the steel manufacturing in South India, at Mysore, Malabar and Golconda. The word Wootz was derived from the Tamil word urukku based on the meaning "melt, dissolve". Other Dravidian languages have similar-sounding words for steel: ukku in Kannada{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpFxcweodqQC&pg=PA135|title=The Dynamics of Technology: Creation and Diffusion of Skills and Knowledge|last1=Narasimha|first1=Roddam|last2=Srinivasan|first2=J.|last3=Biswas|first3=S. K.|date=2003|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-9670-5|page=135}}Michael Faraday, as quoted by {{cite book|title=The Philosopher's Tree|last=Day|first=Peter|date=1999-01-01|publisher=Institute of Physics Publishing|isbn=978-0-7503-0571-6|location=Bristol, UK|page=108}} and Telugu, and urukku in Malayalam. When Benjamin Heyne inspected the Indian steel in Ceded Districts and other Kannada-speaking areas, he was informed that the steel was ucha kabbina ("superior iron"), also known as ukku tundu in Mysore.{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Balfour |title=The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures |url=https://archive.org/details/cyclopindiaeast03balfuoft |year=1885 |publisher=Bernard Quaritch |page=[https://archive.org/details/cyclopindiaeast03balfuoft/page/1092 1092]}}{{cite book |first=James Stephen |last=Jeans |title=Steel: Its History, Manufacture, Properties and Uses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOZZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA294 |year=1880 |publisher=E. & F.N. Spon |page=294}}

Legends of wootz steel and Damascus swords aroused the curiosity of the European scientific community from the 17th to the 19th century. The use of high-carbon alloys was little known in Europe{{cite journal |first1=Evelyne |last1=Godfrey |first2=Matthijs |last2=van Nie |title=A Germanic ultrahigh carbon steel punch of the Late Roman-Iron Age |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=31 |issue=8 |pages=1117–25 |year=2004 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2004.02.002 |bibcode=2004JArSc..31.1117G |url=https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/a-germanic-ultrahigh-carbon-steel-punch-of-the-late-roman-iron-age.pdf}}

• {{cite news |author=Paul Rincon |date=12 May 2004 |title=Iron Age tool marks move to steel |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3705205.stm}} previously and thus the research into wootz steel played an important role in the development of modern English, French and Russian metallurgy.{{cite book |first=Cyril Stanley |last=Smith |title=A History of Metallography: The Development of Ideas on the Structure of Metals Before 1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMCKMQEACAAJ |date=2012 |publisher=Literary Licensing |isbn=978-1-258-47336-5}}

In 1790, samples of wootz steel were received by Sir Joseph Banks, president of the British Royal Society, sent by Helenus Scott. These samples were subjected to scientific examination and analysis by several experts.{{cite journal |last1=Pearson |first1=George |author-link=George Pearson (doctor) |title=Experiments and Observations to Investigate the Nature of a Kind of Steel, Manufactured at Bombay, and There Called Wootz: With Remarks on the Properties and Composition of the Different States of Iron |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |publisher=Royal Society of London|date=1 January 1795 |volume=85 |pages=322–346 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1795.0020 |jstor=106960|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Mushet |first1=D. |author-link=David Mushet |title=Experiments on Wootz |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |date=1 January 1805 |volume=95 |pages=163–175 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1805.0010 |jstor=107164|s2cid=115267901 }}{{cite journal |first=Robert |last=Hadfield |author-link=Robert Hadfield |title=A Research on Faraday's "Steel and Alloys |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |volume=230 |issue=681–693 |year=1932 |pages=221–292 |doi=10.1098/rsta.1932.0007 |jstor=91231|bibcode=1932RSPTA.230..221H |doi-access=free }}

Specimens of daggers and other weapons were sent by the Rajas of India to the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and 1862 International Exhibition. Though the arms of the swords were beautifully decorated and jeweled, they were most highly prized for the quality of their steel. The swords of the Sikhs were said to bear bending and crumpling, and yet be fine and sharp.

Wootz is characterized by a pattern caused by bands of clustered {{chem|Fe|3|C}} particles made by melting of low levels of carbide-forming elements.{{harvnb|Verhoeven|Pendray|Dauksch |1998}} Wootz contains greater carbonaceous matter than common qualities of cast steel.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

The distinct patterns of wootz steel that can be made through forging are wave, ladder, and rose patterns with finely spaced bands. However, with hammering, dyeing, and etching further customized patterns were made.{{Cite book|last=Durand-Charre|first=Madeleine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9pRE-4W8XIC&q=wootz&pg=PA21|title=Microstructure of Steels and Cast Irons|date=2004 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-20963-8 }}

The presence of cementite nanowires and carbon nanotubes has been identified by Peter Pepler of TU Dresden in the microstructure of wootz steel.{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061113/full/news061113-11.html |title=Sharpest cut from nanotube sword |first=Katharine |last=Sanderson |date=15 November 2006 |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/news061113-11|s2cid=136774602 |doi-access=free }} There is a possibility of an abundance of ultrahard metallic carbides in the steel matrix precipitating out in bands. Wootz swords were renowned for their sharpness and toughness.

T. H. Henry analyzed and recorded the composition of wootz steel samples provided by the Royal School of Mines. Recording:

• Carbon (Combined) 1.34%
• Carbon (Uncombined) 0.31%
• Sulfur 0.17%
• Silicon 0.04%
• Arsenic 0.03%

Wootz steel was analyzed by Michael Faraday and recorded to contain 0.01-0.07% aluminium. Faraday, Messrs (et al.), and Stodart hypothesized that aluminium was needed in the steel and was important in forming the excellent properties of wootz steel. However T. H. Henry deduced that presence of aluminium in the wootz used by these studies was due to slag, forming as silicates. Percy later reiterated that the quality of wootz steel does not depend on the presence of aluminium.{{Cite book|last=Percy|first=John|url=https://archive.org/details/metallurgyartex02percgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/metallurgyartex02percgoog/page/n204 183]|title=Metallurgy: The Art of Extracting Metals from Their Ores, and Adapting Them to Various Purposes of Manufacture|date=1864|publisher=J. Murray|language=en}}

Wootz steel has been reproduced and studied in depth by the Royal School of Mines.{{Cite book|last=Ure|first=Andrew|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarychem00nichgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/adictionarychem00nichgoog/page/n381 45]|title=A Dictionary of Chemistry: On the Basis of Mr. Nicholson's, in which the Principles of the Science are Investigated Anew and Its Applications to the Phenomena of Nature, Medicine, Mineralogy, Agriculture, and Manufactures Detailed|date=1821|publisher=Robert Desilver|language=en}} Dr. Pearson was the first to chemically examine wootz in 1795 and he published his contributions to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.{{Cite book|last=Neogi|first=Panchanan|url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9512|title=Iron in ancient India|date=1914|publisher=Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science|language=en}}

Russian metallurgist Pavel Petrovich Anosov (see Bulat steel) was almost able to reproduce ancient wootz steel with nearly all of its properties and the steel he created was very similar to traditional wootz.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} He documented four different methods of producing wootz steel that exhibited traditional patterns.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} He died before he could fully document and publish his research. Oleg Sherby and Jeff Wadsworth and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have all done research, attempting to create steels with characteristics similar to wootz, but without success.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} J.D Verhoeven and Alfred Pendray reconstructed methods of production, proved the role of impurities of ore in the pattern creation, and reproduced wootz steel with patterns microscopically and visually identical to one of the ancient blade patterns.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} Reibold et al.'s analyses spoke of the presence of carbon nanotubes enclosing nanowires of cementite, with the trace elements/impurities of vanadium, molybdenum, chromium etc. contributing to their creation, in cycles of heating/cooling/forging. This resulted in a hard high carbon steel that remained malleable.{{cite conference |title=Discovery of Nanotubes in Ancient Damascus Steel |book-title=Physics and Engineering of New Materials |volume=127 |pages=305–310 |date= 2009 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-88201-5_35 | last1 = Reibold | first1 = Marianne | last2 = Paufler | first2 = Peter | last3 = Levin | first3 = Aleksandr A. | last4 = Kochmann | first4 = Werner | last5 = Pätzke | first5 = Nora | last6 = Meyer | first6 = Dirk C.|series=Springer Proceedings in Physics |publisher=Springer |bibcode=2009penm.book..305R |isbn=978-3-540-88200-8 }}

There are smiths who are now consistently producing wootz steel blades visually identical to the old patterns.{{cite journal |first1=Oleg |last1=Sherby |first2=Jeffrey |last2=Wadsworth |title=Ancient blacksmiths, the Iron Age, Damascus steels, and modem metallurgy |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/222563386_fig2_Fig-7-Two-Damascus-swords-and-surface-markings |journal=Journal of Materials Processing Technology |volume=117 |number=3 |pages=347–353 |date=23 November 2001 |doi=10.1016/S0924-0136(01)00794-4}} Steel manufactured in Kutch (in present-day India) particularly enjoyed a widespread reputation, similar to those manufactured at Glasgow and Sheffield.

Wootz was made over nearly a 2,000-year period (the oldest sword samples date to around 200 CE){{Cn|date=August 2024}} and the methods of production of ingots, the ingredients, and the methods of forging varied from one area to the next. Some wootz blades displayed a pattern, while some did not.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} Heat treating was quite different from forging, and there were many different patterns that were created by the various smiths who spanned from China to Scandinavia.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

With fellow experts, the Georgian-Dutch master armourer Gocha Laghidze developed a new method to reintroduce "Georgian Damascus steel". In 2010, he and his colleagues gave a masterclass on this at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.{{Cite journal |last=Lagidse, Gotscha; Visser, Seerp; Remmen, Klaas, Gotscha |date=2011 |title=Bulat, een Wonderstaal |url=https://www.academia.edu/29006453 |journal=Wapenfeiten |language=nl |issue=3}}Nino Lordkipanidze, [https://gnta.ge/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SI_small.pdf Georgian Damascus, in special issue of National Geographic], 2021, pp. 138-139

• Toledo steel
• Damascus steel
• Noric steel
• Bulat steel
• Tamahagane steel
• Ferrous metallurgy
• Iron pillar of Delhi
• Pattern welding

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Srinivasan |first=Sharada |title=Wootz crucible steel: a newly discovered production site in South India |journal=Papers from the Institute of Archaeology |year=1994 |volume=5 |pages=49–59 |doi=10.5334/pia.60 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Srinivasan |first1=S. |last2=Griffiths |first2=D. |title=South Indian wootz: evidence for high-carbon steel from crucibles from a newly identified site and preliminary comparisons with related finds |journal=Material Issues in Art and Archaeology |volume=462}}
• {{cite book |title=Den skapande människan |trans-title=The creative mind |first=Staffan |last=Hansson |year=2002 |page=81 |location=Lund, Sweden |publisher=Studentlitteratur AB |language=sv |isbn=978-9-14402-148-5}}
• [https://archive.today/20121215002236/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:3912.tamillex urukku - from the Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras]
• {{cite journal |title=Special Issue: History and Characteristics of Wootz Steel in India and Abroad |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=42 |number=3 |date=September 2007 |url=http://insa.nic.in/UI/Journalarticle.aspx?jid=Mw==&&VID=MzU=&&IsNm=SXNzdWUgMw==}}
• {{cite book |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Sharada |last2=Ranganathan |first2=Srinivasan |title=India's Legendary Wootz Steel: an advanced material of the ancient world |location=Bangalore |publisher=National Institute of Advanced Studies and Indian Institute of Science |year=2004}}
• {{cite journal |first=J. D. |last=Verhoeven |title=The Mystery of Damascus Blades |journal=Scientific American |pages=74–79 |date=January 2001 |volume=284 |issue=1 |jstor=26059015 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0101-74|pmid=11132427 |bibcode=2001SciAm.284a..74V }}

• {{cite journal |url=http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9809/Verhoeven-9809.html |first1=J.D. |last1=Verhoeven |first2=A.H. |last2=Pendray |first3=W.E. |last3=Dauksch |title=The key role of impurities in ancient Damascus steel blades |journal=JOM |volume=50 |number=9 |year=1998 |pages=58–64 |doi=10.1007/s11837-998-0419-y|bibcode=1998JOM....50i..58V |s2cid=135854276 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Verhoeven |first1=J.D. |last2=Pendray |first2=A.H. |last3=Dauksch |first3=W.E. |title=The continuing study of damascus steel: Bars from the alwar armory |journal=JOM |date=September 2004 |volume=56 |number=9 |pages=17–20

|doi=10.1007/s11837-004-0193-4 |bibcode=2004JOM....56i..17V |s2cid=137555792 }}

• {{cite journal |first=J.D. |last=Verhoeven |title=Pattern Formation in Wootz Damascus Steel Swords and Blades |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=559–574 |year=2007 |url=http://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol42_4_2_JVerhoeven.pdf}}
• [http://www.wootz.co Wootz Militaria]
• Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/HvRqYE0ba-A Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130507110035/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvRqYE0ba-A&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvRqYE0ba-A |title=Wootz Ep 4: Making Wootz Steel |first=Niels |last=Provos |work=YouTube |date=3 May 2013}}{{cbignore}}
• Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/OP8PCkcBZU4 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20180603051802/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8PCkcBZU4 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8PCkcBZU4 |title=The Secrets of Wootz Damascus Steel |first=Mike |last=Loades |author-link=Mike Loades |first2=Al |last2=Pendray |date=21 November 2017 |work=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
• {{cite patent |country=US |title=Method of making "Damascus" blades |number=5185044 |url=https://www.google.com/patents/US5185044 |invent1=Verhoeven, J.D. |invent2=Pendray, A.H. |pubdate=9 February 1993}}

{{Iron and steel production}}

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