Determination of the manufacturing methods of Indian swords through neutron diffraction

Abstract The analysis of the micro-structural features of ancient Indian swords has been carried out by neutron diffraction as well as by metallography. The results provide a clear identification of the different materials used to produce those weapons. Only a small proportion of the large number of swords produced in India historically were made of hypereutectoid textured steel, namely wootz steel also (misleadingly) known as “Damascus steel”. Diffraction analysis was applied to a group of four swords and the micro-structural and compositional characteristics were identified for all of them revealing a strongly differentiated construction method and the peculiar micro-structural features of at least one kind of wootz steel. This kind of result is a further proof of the validity of the use of neutron scattering techniques for authentication and characterization of ancient metal artefacts.