Friday, November 17, 2006

Today I want to share with you the information about nanotechnology. I've been writing a report about it and decided that these newly released facts are very interesting. It's not only for the people of science, but for everyone. Damask sabers, made in tenth century, are well known by it's durability and sharpness. The studies conducted by Peter Paufer and his collegues from the Technical University in Dresden showed that even here we are talking about nanotechnologies. By means of a digital microscope professor Paufler made some pictures of the damask steel (which was made in India) and discovered that it contains carbonic structures, which resemble modern nanotubes. This discovery became possible only after a piece of steel was disslved in hydrochloric acid. This indian steel is made of iron with iron carbide dash, contained in the form of nanothreads. But it's not very clear how these nanothreads could be formed. Paufler suspects that the clue lies in these nanotubes, which were just recently discovered by scientists. At hight temperature some dashes produced growth of carbon in steel. And then these tubes, filled with iron carbide, formed the superfine threads. However, some scientists have doubts about this theory. If Paufler is wright, it means that people had been using nanotubes when producing steel in ancient times, though not knowing about it. In his further researches Paufler plans to apply the latest achievements in the field of carbonic nanostructures into restoring the lost technology of production the famous steel.