Dear all,
Diving amateur archeologist found some Roman slag in the river Maas near
Cuijk. I was asked to find out what metal preparation process produced the
slag. I used XRF as well as XRD and found that all slag mainly consisted
of silica (~50wt%), alumina (~25wt%) ironoxide (~10wt%)and a few wt% of
magnesium, calcium and potassium and some minor substances. This result
almost led me to the conclusion that it is iron slag. The book of Tylecote
(page 56), however, showed that the ironoxide content of Roman period slag
is typically between 40 and 70 (I presume weight%), much higher than my
10wt%. The types of element is, however, an exact match.
So, I am not so sure anymore if I have got slag and if I have not, what do
I have ?
Can anybody shed some light on this 'mystery' ?
Best regards,
Peter Seinen,
Underwater archeology "Mergor in Mosam", Cuijk
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