Folks interested in such material science topics should definitely read about Wootz steel[1] (Damascus steel[0]) and roman concrete [3]. Its very hard [2] to concoct a high fidelity version of these today, mainly because it is hard to get the trace constituents right.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_steel

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel#Reproduction_resea...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_concrete