Metal from Star Wars in reality: how realistic is it to find beskar on Earth

The Star Wars spin-off tells the story of a bounty hunter named Din Djarin from the planet Mandalore and

describes in detail the way of life, culture andinhabitants of a fantasy world. Playing a huge role in Mandalorian culture is beskar, or Mandalorian iron, a fictional, durable and lightweight metal that can withstand blaster shots and deflect lightsaber strikes.

It is a sacred, powerful metal thatused to forge weapons and armor. It can be easily melted and shaped into any shape, worked through heat and forging. Due to the refractory properties, it can be assumed that, technically, beskar should contain an inorganic fiber that does not burn. We find out if there is such material or its analogue here on Earth.

Is there a beskar on Earth?

In the series, the Mandalorian Djarin is paid for missions toingots from beskarova steel. In the form of a bar, the metal is distinguished by a silver hue with a wavy pattern. Outwardly, it resembles the legendary high-carbon crucible steel (Wootz steel). There are several ancient Tamil, North Indian, Greek, Chinese and Roman literary references to this metal. It is believed that he first appeared in southern India and Sri Lanka. There is still debate about the true origin of the metal.

Damascus steel blade, hand forged. Photo: shutterstock

However, more importantly, the properties of beskarreminiscent of Damascus steel. It is a famous type of steel, recognizable by the watery or wavy light and dark patterns of the alloy. In addition to being very beautiful, she is valued for keeping her blade sharp while remaining hard and flexible. Damascus steel weapons are vastly superior to iron weapons. Although this steel is very strong and durable, it is very light and easy to machine. All this is strongly reminiscent of beskar.

Although modern high-carbon steels,crafted using the 19th century Bessemer process, surpassing the quality of Damascus steel, the original alloy remains an outstanding material, especially for its time. Damascus steel comes in two varieties: cast Damascus steel (the same Wootz steel, according to McGill University) and pattern welded Damascus steel.

What is special about Damascus steel?

It is believed that Damascus steel was firstcast from wutz, a type of steel originally produced in India over 2,000 years ago. It was this country that began to produce wutz long before our era, but weapons and other items made from this metal became really popular in the lll and lv centuries as trade items sold in Damascus, in what is now Syria. Wootz manufacturing techniques were lost in the 1700s.

Although a lot of research and reverse engineering has been done to replicate cast Damascus steel, no one has been able to cast a similar material.

However, a recent study of the structure and compositionreal Damascus steel, conducted by a scientist from Dresden, showed that the almost mythical sharpness and strength of steel were the result of the presence of carbon nanotubes and carbide nanowires in the structure of the forged metal.

Scheme of the molecular structure of carbon nanotubes, carbon atoms are connected in a wrapped hexagonal lattice. Photo: shutterstock.com

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) themselves areThey are hexagonal cylinders of carbon atoms, and they are among the strongest materials on earth, with great elasticity and strength. According to theoretical calculations, the tensile strength for each nanotube is 100 GPa. This makes CNT one of the strongest materials. At the same time, the strength of the fiber from nanotubes will be several times less - only 1 GPa.

ancient nanotechnology

According to the analysis of German scientists, Damascus steelcontains complexes of carbon nanotubes and the thinnest strong fibers, consisting of cementite (Fe₃C). This microstructure explains the special properties of Damascus steel. Easily pliable carbon nanotubes just compensate for the rigidity of cementite. As it turned out, medieval blacksmiths, empirically selecting the composition and method of processing steel, learned how to produce them at least 400 years ago (that is how many years the Damascus blade that experts studied).

In addition, experts are sure that it was requiredspecial skills to maintain a constant temperature in the production of steel with a characteristic wavy pattern. To do this, ancient blacksmiths alternated hot and cold phases in the process, causing any remaining impurities to spread out in bands. This led to the formation of the characteristic wavy texture of Damascus blades. All this is very similar to nanotechnology, notes Interesting Engineering.

Long before the term Damascus was coinedsteel, ancient blacksmiths used the technology of the future to forge these swords. Perhaps it was these masters who were the first to use the technologies of the future on Earth and inspired the authors of the Star Wars franchise when creating the story of the beskar.

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