Metallographic examination of iron artefacts from Gansu Province, China
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Abstract
A number of cast- and wrought-iron artefacts from Gansu Province, China were examined by metallography to determine the nature of the ferrous materials. The iron objects date from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–221BC) and Western Han Dynasty (221BC–AD8). A large cast-iron bell from the later period of Dajing Mingchang (AD1190) was also studied. A variety of different ferrous technologies
was found in the artefacts examined, including: wrought iron—probably derived from bloomery manufacture; steel made by decarburisation or fi ning of a cast iron; grey cast iron; mottled cast iron; and white cast iron. Electron probe microanalysis was used to obtain elemental composition for some of the artefacts, which in the case of the wrought iron showed extensive banding due to arsenic, nickel or copper enrichment. In some corroded material, pseudomorphic retention of microstructure within iron oxyhydroxides allowed the morphology of the original microstructure to be inferred.
Details
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