Ancient and Modern Laminated Composites — from the Great Pyramid of Gizeh to Y2K

Preprint UCRL-JC-135031 Ancient and Modern Laminated Composites — From the Great Pyramid of Gizeh to Y2K J. Wadsworth and D. R. Lesuer This article was submitted to International Metallographic Society 1999 Conference, Cincinnati, OH, October 21 – November 3, 1999 March 14, 2000 Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited DISCLAIMER This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. 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Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Prices available from (423) 576-8401 http://apollo.osti.gov/bridge/ Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service U.S. Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161 http://www.ntis.gov/ OR Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Technical Information Department’s Digital Library http://www.llnl.gov/tid/Library.html UCRL-JC-135031 Ancient and Modern Laminated Composites — From the Great Pyramid of Gizeh to Y2K (Abbreviated title: Ancient and Modern Laminated Composites) Jeffrey Wadsworth and Donald R. Lesuer University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA 94551 Prepared for submittal to Materials Characterization: An International Journal on Materials Structure and Behavior Published in Association with the International Metallographic Society an affiliate society of ASM International Originally presented at the IMS Symposium held in Cincinnati, Ohio October 31 – November 3, 1999 Abstract Laminated metal composites have been cited in antiquity; for example, a steel laminate that may date as far back as 2750 B.C., was found in the Great Pyramid in Gizeh in 1837. A laminated shield containing bronze, tin, and gold layers, is described in detail by Homer. Well-known examples of steel laminates, such as an Adze blade, dating to 400 B.C.can be found in the literature. The Japanese sword is a laminated composite at several different levels and Merovingian blades were composed of laminated steels. Other examples are also available, including composites from China, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Britain, Belgium, France, and Persia. The concept of lamination to provide improved properties has also found expression in modern materials. Of particular interest is the development of laminates including high carbon and low carbon layers. These materials have unusual properties that are of engineering interest; they are similar to ancient welded Damascus steels. The manufacture of collectable knives, labeled “welded Damascus”, has also been a focus of contemporary knifemakers. Additionally, in the Former Soviet Union, laminated composite designs have been used in engineering applications. Each of the above areas will be briefly reviewed, and some of the metallurgical principles will be described that underlie improvement in properties by lamination. Where appropriate, links are made between these property improvements and those that may have been present in ancient artifacts. Page 1 Ancient and Modern Laminated Composites — From the Great Pyramid of Gizeh to Y2K UCRL-JC-135031 J. Wadsworth and D.R. Lesuer Introduction lamination. (Examples include the Japanese sword, the Halberd, and modern laminates.) Finally, there is a strong In a recent review[1], the authors and their colleagues motivation based on decorative appeal. (Many modern presented examples of historical laminated composites knives are made in laminated form for this reason, but it and described in detail modern studies of the mechanical could have been a motive in ancient knives also.) Some behavior of laminated metal composites (LMCs). selected examples of laminated materials follow. Laminated metal composites consist of alternating metal Laminated Iron Plate found at the Great Pyramid of or metal-containing layers that are bonded with “sharp” Gizeh: In 1837, an iron plate (26 cm x 86 cm x a maximum interfaces. These materials represent a unique laminated thickness of 0.4 cm and weighing 750 g) was discovered by or composite form that is different from graded materials, an excavation team near an air passage (Southern side) in which have diffuse interfaces, or layered materials, in the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, Egypt. The location of the general, which can consist of alternating layers of a wide plate was within an undisturbed section high up on the range of materials. Laminated metal composites can pyramid. The plate was removed to the British Museum dramatically improve many properties including fracture and was not examined for its structure until El Gayer and toughness, fatigue behavior, impact behavior, wear, Jones used modern metallographic techniques on a small corrosion, and damping capacity; or provide enhanced (1.7 g) sample from the plate and published their findings formability or ductility for otherwise brittle materials. In in 1989.[2] A comment by Craddock and Lang[3] was many cases, through the choice of component materials, included in the same issue of the Journal. laminate architecture (such as volume percent of the The significance of the plate is twofold. First, if it can component materials and layer thickness), and processing be shown to be contemporaneous with the building of the history, LMCs can be engineered to produce a material pyramid, then it is one of the oldest known plates of iron with prescribed properties. metal ever discovered and dates from the 4th Dynasty, In the present paper, the first section deals with the circa 2750 B.C. Second, the metallographic study of El history of laminated composites. In particular, examples of Gayer and Jones revealed that the plate consists of: their existence, composition, and structure are detailed. ...numerous laminates of wrought iron and that these Extra emphasis is given to the Japanese sword both laminates have been inexpertly welded together by because of its complexity as a laminate at several levels, hammering. The various layers differ from each other and its relatively well-documented history and the in their grain sizes, carbon contents, the nature of technical details that accompany that history. Included at their non-metallic inclusions, and in their the end of the section are some comments on modern thicknesses. knives that duplicate, in part, the ancient weapons. The It was further deduced from elongated non-metallic second section of the paper first describes modern inclusions that the welding process had been carried out at engineering applications of LMCs. Scientific and modest temperatures (~800˚C) allowing re-crystallization engineering studies on laminated composites are then of the iron matrix grains. The absence of metallic copper presented — in some cases at the very thin-layer level, and globules, and only small traces of elemental copper in others at layer thicknesses that were close to those suggested that the plate had not been produced as a by- found in ancient laminates. Processing methods, as well as product of copper smelting operations of iron-rich copper strength, durability, toughness, and damping properties, ores. Also, a chemical analysis reported in 1926 revealed are discussed. The mechanisms of improving toughness only trace levels of nickel, thereby confirming the plate to by lamination are described in detail. be of terrestrial (but not natural) origin rather than to be Where possible, the mechanisms leading to improved meteoric.[2] (It is noted that the above view on lamination properties of modern engineered laminated composites is not universally agreed upon. An alternate view is that are linked back to ancient artifacts. the heterogeneous nature of the plate is a direct result of a heterogeneous starting piece.[4]) History Summarizing, El Gayer and Jones concluded that the iron pieces comprising the laminate were: The idea of laminating similar or dissimilar metals or ...intentionally produced during small-scale (and, alloys to form a composite material has been known from possibly, very primitive) operations primarily antiquity. The motivations for laminating metals are designed for the production of iron metal (rather than varied. For example, in carburizing the earliest forms of copper metal). Furthermore, the presence of abundant wrought iron, only thin layers could be carburized and so inclusions of unreduced (or incompletely

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