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Ancient Swords Made of Carbon Nanotubes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the built-to-last dept.

brian0918 writes "Nature reports that researchers at Dresden University believe that sabres from Damascus dating back to 900 AD were formed with help from carbon nanotubes. From the article: 'Sabres from Damascus are made from a type of steel called wootz. But the secret of the swords' manufacture was lost in the eighteenth century.' At high temperatures, impurities in the metal 'could have catalyzed the growth of nanotubes from carbon in the burning wood and leaves used to make the wootz, Paufler suggests. These tubes could then have filled with cementite to produce the wires in the patterned blades, he says.'"

5 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Katana comparison by Ekhymosis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since the secret of manufacturing was lost in the 18th century, it would make sense that they were still made during 1500-1600. How would their properties in manufacturing compare to the folding method of the Japanese katana? Would the nanotubes be present in the katana as well, or was this unique to Damascus?

    --
    Fighting over religion is like seeing whose imaginary friend is best.
    1. Re:Katana comparison by bladesjester · · Score: 5, Interesting

      From the photo, it does indeed look like the metal in the blade has been folded (damasced). That may or may not be the answer he's looking for. I can say that, from the up close shot, the patterning is pretty.

      My master would be a better judge than I am. He's also a swordsman. One of us is better at blacksmithing (He did it professionally for quite some time and used to teach at a school) and the other is generally a better swordsman (though he'd say that was him, we both know better).

      I started learning to work steel because I wanted to make my own weapons (I've trained martially since I was about 6 and got my first sword at 10). Unfortunately, things happened which caused me to stop that pursuit for the moment.

      While I was there, I got to use a type of forge setup which is basically only found in a few places in the world and got to meet a lot of interesting people including a master gunsmith whose work is in the Smithsonian. It was a real trip.

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
  2. Re:Wootz? by Feyr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    it might not be "wrong" to say it was lost, but it's not entirely right either. i remember a few years ago some engineer had replicated the process and was trying to streamline it for commercial production (it required something like 10 highly involved and time consuming steps).

    wish i could find that article now

  3. Re:informative by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Interesting
    simple - the slashdot mod system is broken, funny posts get no positive karma.
    That's not a bug, it's a feature.

    As the Slashdot Faq says: Note that being moderated Funny doesn't help your karma. You have to be smart, not just a smart-ass.

    Thus, kind moderators will often mod a funny post as informative or insightful, so that the poster gets the karma.
    If you want to give someone Karma and the post doesn't fit into the Insightful or Interesting category, use +1 Underrated.
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    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  4. Re:wootz? by FirienFirien · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What, like... Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo?

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    Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious