Much is known about the history of the development of mankind, but there are also many white spots in it. For example, historians have studied how ancient people made stone axes, and then began to use bronze for this. Then people learned how to smel iron and mastered the technology of manufacturing steel. But there is such a page in the history of metallurgy as damask steel. The production technology of this unique steel grade was lost at the time, it has not been fully studied until now.
And Europeans were the first to “get acquainted” with damask steel during the battle of the army of Alexander the Great with the troops of the Indian king Por. And the Macedonians were greatly struck by the armor of the king captured. They were made of very durable white metal. And the swords of the Macedonian warriors could not only pierce these armors, they could not even scratch them. The broad swords of Indian warriors were made of the same steel. And they cut Macedonian iron as easily as butter. And as historians say, the iron weapons of Europeans in those days were not of high quality. It was very soft and bent after several hits. And the damask steel from which the Indian swords were made seemed like a miracle to the Macedonians. And they were forced to retreat under pressure from Indian warriors.
And long before this battle from the Himalayan mountains, a whole caste of blacksmiths came to the principality of Punjab. They knew ironwork well and knew how to make weapons out of it that possessed extraordinary properties. Then damask steel from Punjab and the secrets of its production spread to Japan and Siam. And the properties of the Indian blades, which were made from damask steel, were really amazing. They were strong and solid, and at the same time these swords had unusual viscosity and elasticity. With such a blade it was possible to cut an iron nail, at the same time it was easily bent into an arc. These swords were also made in different colors, for example, blue or green. And they were visible patterns that resembled a pattern of fabric.
Also amazing was the cutting ability of the Indian blade. After sharpening, its blade became so sharp that they could cut a scarf from gas in the air. And this sharpness kept this blade for a long time. Damask steel in the form of ingots was also imported into Syria. And there, in Damascus, blacksmiths forged fabulous blades from it. But the "imported" damask steel was very expensive, so the craftsmen invented some welded damask steel. They correctly determined that damask steel is a kind of composite consisting of particles of solid high-carbon and mild steel, in which there is little carbon. And from this welded damask, the Syrian blacksmiths made blades of sufficiently high quality. But Damascus steel was still inferior to cast Indian Damascus steel in such qualities as strength and elasticity.
And so it went on until the 12th century. In India and Syria, high-quality weapons were produced until Timur appeared. He conquered, and then destroyed and burned Damascus. And Timur moved the master gunsmiths from this city to Samarkand and to Bukhara. Thus, the production of damask steel has moved to Central Asia. And after the death of this conqueror, the production of damask steel weapons in Central Asia fell into decay. In India, perhaps, there were masters who knew the secret of cast damask steel. But after Europeans conquered India, who brought modern methods of steel production, ancient art simply ceased to exist.
And already in the 18-19 centuries in the West they tried to find out what damask steel, what is the technology of its production. In particular, Michael Faraday tried to solve this problem, but he failed. Then other metallurgical enterprises from Western Europe tried to get pattern steel. Millon, Berthier, Faure, Fabre and others received steel with patterns by alloying iron with chromium, platinum and silver.
But the greatest success in this matter was achieved by the Russian engineer, Major General P.P. Anosov. He was the head of the Zlatoust weapons factory. And at his direction they made an accurate chemical analysis of damask steel. He summarized the experience of all his predecessors and, having spent decades researching, independently obtained all the highest grades of damask steel. Anosov managed to recreate the legendary properties of damask steel and to develop an industrial technology for its production.