A study of a late 18th century Bebut bulat (Damascus) steel blade from Persian Kurdistan revealed its structure to consist of carbide banding in a troostite matrix. Reaching a width of 50 μm, the carbide bands were composed of accumulations of oblong particles of excess cementite. The bands of the continuous troostite matrix have a width of up to 100 μm. Banded (laminated) bulat structures are scored from 4 to 6 in terms of carbide heterogeneity. The internal microstructural composition of the Bebut bulat blade includes 58% straight sections of laminated banding, 22% wavy curved lines, 15% open reticular structures, and 5% closed reticular structures. The maximum phosphorus content of 0.4% is observed in troostite areas of carbide layers. In the troostite layers, the amount of phosphorus gradually decreases from 0.2% at the interlayer boundary to zero in the middle part of the troostite layer. The microhardness distribution plot of the bulat steel was experimentally determined to have a clearly expressed maximum of 1020 HV in carbide layers and minimum of 390 HV in troostite layers. This hardness-banded texture was determined to have a huge impact on the generation of a naturally undulating surface during the formation of a patterned bulat structure. The main bulat patterns are formed by individual topographic contour elements: cavities, basins, undulations, saddles, crosspieces, and wavy dunes. The bulat pattern thus represents a set of randomly alternating individual elements of the bulat structure in different local areas of the blade surface, which appears to have been a deliberate effect. Regularities in the local sections and the repetition of the basic patterns are described.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anosov, “On Bulat steel,” Gornyi Zhurnal [in Russian], Part 1, Book 2, 157–319 (1841).
B. Zschokke, “Du Damasse et des Lamés de Damast,” Rev. de Metallurgie [in French], No. 21, 635–669 (1924).
I. S. Gaev, “Bulat and modern iron-carbon alloys,” MiTOM [in Russian], No. 9, 17–24 (1965).
CL. Panseri, “Damascus steel in legend and in reality,” Gladius, No. 4, 5–66 (1965).
J. Wadsworth and O. D. Sherby, “On the Bulat–Damascus steels revisited,” Progress in Mater. Sci., No. 25, 35–68 (1980).
O. D. Sherby and J. Wadsworth, “Damascus steel,” Scientific American, 252(2), 112–120 (1985).
F. N. Tavadze, B. G. Amaglobeli, and G. V. Inanishvili, “Mechanical properties of bulat steel,” Soobshch. AN Gruzinskoi SSR [in Russian], No. 3(113), 589–592 (1984).
J. D. Verhoeven and L. L. Jones, “Damascus steel. P. II: Origin of the Damask pattern,” Metallographe, No. 20, 153–180 (1987).
L. S. Figiel, On Damascus Steel, Atlanta’s Arts Press, Atlanta (1991).
V. A. Shcherbakov and V. P. Borzunov, Bulat Steel [in Russian], ID MISIS, Moscow (1996).
J. D. Verhoeven, A. N. Pendray, and W. E. Dauksch, “The key role of impurities in ancient Damascus steel blades,” J. of Metallurgy, 50, 58–64 (1998).
J. D. Verhoeven, “Pattern formation in wootz Damascus steel swords and blades,” Indian J. of History of Sci., 42(2), 559–574 (2007).
L. B. Arkhangelskii, Secrets of Bulat Steel [in Russian], Metallurgiya, Moscow (2007).
I. N. Taganov and B. D. Kalinin, “Effect of phosphorus impurity on the bulat steel technology,” Metalloobrabotka [in Russian], No. 2(50), 40–46 (2009).
J. D. Verhoeven, A. N. Pendray, W. E. Dauksch, and S. R. Wagstaff, “Damascus steel Revisited,” J. of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 70, No. 7, 1331–1336 (2018).
D. A. Sukhanov, “Influence of phosphorus impurity on the structure and nature of the destruction of the genuine Damascus steel,” Int. J. of Engineering Technologies and Management Research (IJETMR), No. 5 (4), 26–37 (2018).
D. A. Sukhanov, “Structural formation of the Indo-Persian phosphorous bulat steel,” Mater. XXXV Mezhdunar. Nauch.-Pract. Conf. “Tendentsii Razvitiya Nauki I Obrazovania” [in Russian], No. 35(3), 24–34 (2018).
D. A. Sukhanov and N. V. Plotnikova, “Mechanical properties of 18th-century Persian bulat steel in comparison with modern high-speed steels,” Metallurg [in Russian], No. 11, 50–60 (2019).
K. V. Tumanova, V. Yu. Bazhin, O. A. Dubovikov, A. V. Sundurov, and V. G. Povarov, “Investigation of Georgian bulat weapon of the 19th century from the collection of the Mining Museum of the Mining University,” Chernye Metally [in Russian], No. 2, 73–78 (2020).
Masalsky, “Manufacturing of the bulat steel according to the method used by the Persians,” Gornyi Zhurnal [in Russian], Book 11, 233–248 (1841).
D. K. Chernov, “D. K. Chernov and the metal science,” Sb. Nauch. Tr. [in Russian], Ed. N. T. Gudtsov, Metallurgizdat, Moscow (1950).
N. T. Belyaev, About Bulat Steel [in Russian], St. Petersburg (1906).
E. E. Lents, Imperial Hermitage. Index of the Divisions of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Pt. 1. Collection of Weapons [in Russian], St. Petersburg (1908).
A. P. Vinogradov, “The soft bulat steel and the origin of the bulat pattern,” Izv. Dnepropetrovskogo Gornogo In-ta [in Russian], 15, 115–213 (1928).
V. I. Basov, “Bulat: Lifeline,” Metallurg [in Russian], No. 7, 16–23 (1991).
S. A. Saltykov, Stereometric Metallography [in Russian], Metallurgiya, Moscow (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Metallurg, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 93–102, February, 2022. Russian DOI: https://doi.org/10.52351/00260827_2022_02_93.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sukhanov, D.A. Topographic Contour Element Features in Patterned Macrostructures of the 18th Century Persian Bulat Steel. Metallurgist 66, 221–231 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11015-022-01318-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11015-022-01318-x