Studies of Damascus steel blades: Part II. Destruction and reformation of the pattern

Journal Article · Wed Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1993 · Materials Characterization; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/1044-5803(93)90021-M· OSTI ID:6789664

Verhoeven, J D; Pendray, A H; Berge, P M ^[1]

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1. Ames Lab., IA (United States)

Two genuine Damascus steel blades and two reconstructed Damascus blades have been austenitized to the point where all of the cementite particles responsible for their Damask pattern were dissolved into the austenite. It is demonstrated that subsequent thermal cycling, causes the reprecipitation of cementite particles in the same sheetlike morphology of the original blades, provided that the austenitization temperature is low enough to avoid homogenization of the major impurity elements, Mn, Si, S, and P. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis of Part I, that the formation of sheets of clustered cementite particles in genuine Damascus blades is a type of carbide banding caused by microsegregated third elements deformed into sheets during the cyclic forging process. Several thermal cycling experiments on reconstructed blade pieces are presented. The experiments support a model in which the third-element additions bias the nucleation of cementite particles into the sheet geometry, followed by enhancement of the sheet morphology by particle coarsening during the thermal cycles.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• OSTI ID: 6789664
• Journal Information: Materials Characterization; (United States), Journal Name: Materials Characterization; (United States) Vol. 30:3; ISSN 1044-5803; ISSN MACHEX
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360101* -- Metals & Alloys-- Preparation & Fabrication
360102 -- Metals & Alloys-- Structure & Phase Studies
ALLOYS
AUSTENITE
CARBIDES
CARBON ADDITIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CEMENTITE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEFORMATION
FABRICATION
FORGING
IMPURITIES
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
IRON CARBIDES
IRON COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS WORKING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROSTRUCTURE
STEELS
THERMAL CYCLING
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS