Peter Northover wrote:
> Where copper alloy coated iron objects from Iron Age Britain have been
> examined metallographically the method used is quite clearly
> hot-dipping. Liquid copper and bronze are quite aggressive solvents
> for iron and interact readily with the iron surface. The
> cross-sections show the classic pattern of interface for this process.
> .....Copper cna also be deposited on iron from
> solutions of copper salts. This was done in medieval times to lay down
> an elextroless copper plate on iron/steel armour prior to mercury
> gilding.
What I see in Peter Northoverīs answer are two possibilities: hot coating
and cold coating.
The microstructure may clearly indicate hot coating (micros in the net
would be fine). But was it DIPPING into a metallic liquid ? If things are
really that clear, how Radomir Pleiner would have come to the conclusion
"... seems rather difficult to imagine..." ? (R. Pleiner: A Celtic
bronze-coated sword blade from Manching. Metallurgica Antiqua - Der
Anschnitt, Beiheft 8, 1998, pages 163-170). Is it imaginable that hot
coating and soldering (at Manching) of iron could have been made not only
with the same or similar alloy but with the same technical procedure:
heating in clay-packages ?
Ingo Keesmann
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