Post 997785637

Damascus steel's lost secret found » "For hundreds of years, some of the keenest minds in science sought in vain to tap the secret of how blacksmiths in ancient India and the Middle East fashioned a supremely tough metal known as Damascus steel. Legend had it that the metal, stronger and sharper than some steels produced even in industrial times, may have helped Islamic armies repel European crusaders with inferior weapons during the Middle Ages. The search for the shimmering alloy may now be at an end, thanks to an unlikely alliance between a materials science professor at Iowa State University and a Florida blacksmith who crafts shoes for racehorses." (Via Slashdot)