Investigating the Provenance of Iron Artifacts of the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of EDS Microanalyses of Slag Inclusions

Abstract

Microstructural characterization techniques, including EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis) microanalyses, were used to investigate the slag inclusions in the microstructure of ferrous artifacts of the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema (first steel plant of Brazil, XIX century), the D. Pedro II Bridge (located in Bahia, assembled in XIX century and produced in Scotland) and the archaeological sites of São Miguel de Missões (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, production site of iron artifacts, the XVIII century) and Afonso Sardinha (São Paulo, Brazil production site of iron artifacts, XVI century). The microanalyses results of the main microconstituents of the microstructure of the slag inclusions were investigated by hierarchical cluster analysis and the dendrogram with the microanalyses results of the wüstite phase (using as critical variables the contents of MnO, MgO, Al 2 O 3 , V 2 O 5 and TiO 2 ) allowed the identification of four clusters, which successfully represented the samples of the four investigated sites (Ipanema, Sardinha, Missões and Bahia). Finally, the comparatively low volumetric fraction of slag inclusions in the samples of Ipanema (~1%) suggested the existence of technological expertise at the ironmaking processing in the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema.

Microstructural and mechanical characterisation of the Simon Bolivar's iron bridge structure, 19th century, Arequipa, Peru

“…Additionally, the Scottish puddled iron featured a lower level of inclusion content (approximately 6%) than the American puddled iron (about 10%). These results illustrate how puddled irons of different provenances feature slag inclusions with different content and chemical composition (Dillmann and L'Héritier, 2007;Blakelock et al, 2009;Maia et al, 2015;Mamani-Calcina et al, 2017).…”

“…The EDS chemical microanalysis results of the wüstite phase of the slag inclusions are shown in Table 2. The chemical composition of the slag inclusion can be used to investigate the provenance of ferrous artefacts (Dillmann and L'Héritier, 2007;Blakelock et al, 2009;Maia et al, 2015;Mamani-Calcina et al, 2017). The microanalysis results indicated that the wüstite phase of the beams, tie-rods and columns qualitatively presented the same chemical composition, with pronounced varia-tions in the ratio between V 2 O 5 and TiO 2 contents.…”

“…The puddled irons with the same provenance (The Phoenix Iron Company) showed typical variations in the chemical composition (see Table 1) and microstructure of the slag inclusions (see Figures 2a to 3d). The EDS chemical microanalysis results (see Table 2) showed that the wüstite phase of the beams, tie-rods and columns presented qualitatively the same chemical composition, with distinct variations in the ratio between The microanalysis results of the slag inclusions of the puddled iron produced by an American manufacturer, Phoenix Iron Company, see Table 2, were compared to the results of the puddled iron of the structural elements of the Dom Pedro II Bridge -located in Bahia, 1885, and produced by a Scottish company, Mossend Iron and Steel Works (Mamani-Calcina et al, 2017). The wustite phase of the slag inclusions of the American puddled iron presented higher V 2 O 5 (0.8%) and lower TiO 2 (0.45 %) and MnO (0.1%) contents than the Scottish puddled iron (0.5% V 2 O 5 , 0.9% TiO 2 and 0.9% MnO).…”

An Armour from a finery?—a late medieval couter from Ogrodzieniec Castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura

“…In the case of blast furnace refined metal, the opposite is true. On the other hand, a "common domain" or an overlapping zone is most likely to occur (Dillmann and L'Héritier 2007: p. 1816-1819; this method was successfully applied in several other works, e.g., Żabiński et al 2018;Mamani-Calcina et al 2017;Maia et al 2015;L'Héritier et al 2013;2010; see also Buchwald and Wivel 1998: p. 87-91, Table 4, Fig. 170).…”

A late medieval or early modern light gun barrel from the Castle Museum in Malbork—typology, technology of manufacture and identification of the smelting process

“…10; for other works where this method was used, see, e.g. Mamani-Calcina et al 2017;Maia et al 2015;L'Héritier et al 2013; for earlier attempts at discriminating between both processes, see, e.g. Buchwald and Wivel 1998: p. 87-91, Tab.…”