Dear Adi, 

Hi, my PhD was on ancient phosphoric iron, but what I was looking at was solid-state (bloomery) iron, where you don't see such high phosphorus contents. However I also looked at some cast iron (where you can get higher P), so you might want to see the experimental work in particular there. 

You can get the reference, and download a copy of the whole thesis if you want, from the link here: http://www.heritage-watch.com/biography1.html .... 

The Fe-P eutectic is at around 10wt%P.... after that, the compound Fe3P forms at around 15wt%P, and Fe2P forms at around 21wt%P (I complied a summary Table from the literature, of equilibrium phases and compounds, which is in Chapter 1 of my thesis), so you don't see a 20wt% Fe-P eutectic. 

Of course in a charcoal-fuelled furnace there are Fe-C phases forming at the same time, so what you see in practice in archaeological iron are more likely to be complex eutectics, rather than straight Fe-P. 

What I've included in my PhD is a schematic ternary phase diagram that I drew based on my analytical results and the literature, that illustrates the Fe-P-C eutectics that you see in practice. 

cheers,

Evelyne

-----------------------------------------------

Dr Evelyne Godfrey  MCIfA

Director, Uffington Heritage Watch

Oxfordshire, England SN7 7SE

 

Web: www.heritage-watch.com

Tel: 01367 821134

Mob: 07410 696577

On 25 July 2017 at 08:33, Adi Eliyahu <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear All,

Can anyone refer me to references regarding ancient eutectic alloys of iron and phosphorous containing - ca. 80:20  wt%  of Fe:P ??

Thanks.

Adi

--

Adi Eliyahu Behar, Ph.D

Archaeological Science Coordinator

Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project

Bar-Ilan University

Tel:  ++972-3-7384319

Mobile: ++972-52-6559527

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