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Surface studies of a 2400-year old corrosion resistant ancient Indian Iron Artifact

IR@NPL: CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi

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Title Surface studies of a 2400-year old corrosion resistant ancient Indian Iron Artifact
 
Creator Singh, Vandana
Singh, Sukhvir
 
Subject Applied Chemistry
Engineering
 
Description Surface morphology and chemical analysis of 2400 year old sickle-blade excavated in early 1940s from the ancient city Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh, India has been carried out. The discovery of sickle blade is important archaeological evidence that demonstrates the effective role of iron in agricultural operations. Despite being buried over 2300 years, the blade has survived in good condition. Hence it became essential to determine its fabrication technique and corrosion behavior. The study is carried out in order to investigate the corrosion behavior of this ancient Indian iron. Detailed analysis of the characterization results revealed the valuable information about the production technology of the associated culture. The sickle blade is analyzed by using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and x-ray diffractometer (XRD). Characterization results lead to the fact that the sickle blade shows heterogeneous microstructure consisting of ferrite, widmanstatten and pearlite structures which is typical of ancient Indian wrought iron produced by bloomery process. Relatively high amount of Phosphorous has been observed which may be responsible for the corrosion resistance behavior of sickle blade. The study reveal the valuable information about the technology and the materials used in the development of iron-based artifacts in India during the ancient period.
 
Publisher CSIR-NISCAIR
 
Date 2018-07
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://npl.csircentral.net/3963/1/Surface%20studies%20of%20a%20.pdf
Singh, Vandana and Singh, Sukhvir (2018) Surface studies of a 2400-year old corrosion resistant ancient Indian Iron Artifact. Indian Journal of Chemical Technology, 25 (4). pp. 396-399. ISSN 0971-457X
 
Relation http://npl.csircentral.net/3963/