HI, as I know from my experience copper artifacts if they was produced from
unrefined copper can contain Fe (and may be Mg which is geologically
associated with Fe) in inclusions as magnetite (Fe3O4) or fayalite
(Fe2SiO4), or spinels containing also Mg. Fe can be also dissolved in
copper. In all cases Fe is remnants of slaggy material. Best wishes Irina.
At 01:51 3/6/99 +0800, you wrote:
>Dear List Members,
>
>I have some bronze samples examined with SEM and found that there are a lot
>of Fe and Mg in bronze artifacts, with both 0.6-4.5% weight. They are not
>from rust layers and are most come from metal crystals. Strangely, the
>non-metallic inclusions do not consist of Fe or Mg. Of course there is not
>relation between Fe and Mg, for they are relatively independent in content.
>Some samples have Fe and have no Mg, while some others have not Fe but have
>Mg, or both. I referred it to the phase features and knew the most contents
>of Fe and Mg in Cu are much lower than 4.5%. Does anyone happened to know
>the reasons? Thanks for your help.
>
>Best Regards
>William Qian
>Institute of Historical Metallurgy & Materials
>University of Science & Technology Beijing
>30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, P.R.China
>
>Tel: 086-10-62332534
>Fax: 086-10-62327283
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
Dr. Irina Segal
Geochemistry Department
The Geological Survey of Israel
30 Malkhe Israel Street
Jerusalem 95501, Israel
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