ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

This is a page describing data taken during an experiment at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. Information about the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source can be found at https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk.


Characterization of a set of specimens of wootz steel. Wootz type identification and texture distribution analysis in cementite

Abstract: A long term collaboration between CNR (Florence), the ISIS neutron and muon source, and the Wallace Collection (London) was established several year ago to determine the compositional and microstructural characteristics of the so called wootz steel. Wootz steel is a crucible steel that originated in the mid-1st millennium BC in South India, and sword blades made from Indian steel were highly prized and gained a legendary reputation for their quality. Wootz steel exhibits a peculiar pattern at the surface often defined as ?watered silk? that originates from the manufacturing method, not fully known nowadays. It is believed to be a crucible steels which have been very slowly cooled to give dendrites of cementite and then carefully forged so that the dendrites are broken up and enabled to form a pattern. A set of 12 cut blade fragments from different swords were cut by conservators of the Nizam Armoury and shipped to the Wallace Collection conservation department for analysis purpose. We intend to perform diffraction measurements on the whole volume of the specimens. Once identified genuine wootz blades, based on the microstructure and the crystalline phases present, we intend to mount them on the goniometer and measure the cementite profile for several sample orientation in order to cover a wide solid angle range and check the relative intensity variation of the sensitive cementite peaks to gain insight about cementite anisotropy and texture.

Local Contact: Dr Antonella Scherillo
Experimenter: Dr Francesco Grazzi
Experimenter: Mr David Edge
Experimenter: Dr Alan Williams

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2310723

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2310723

Part DOI Instrument Public release date Download Link
- INES 22 March 2026 Download
10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2310723-2 INES 17 September 2027 Download

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Antonella Scherillo et al; (2023): Characterization of a set of specimens of wootz steel. Wootz type identification and texture distribution analysis in cementite, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2310723

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.



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