| Title |
Historical Metallurgy ; Microstructure and Component Analysis of Bronze Artifacts Excavated from the Shilla Wang-kyoung and the Estimation of the Forging Technology |
| Authors |
정영동(Young Dong Jung); 정원섭(Won Seop Jung) |
| ISSN |
1738-8228(ISSN), 2288-8241(eISSN) |
| Keywords |
bronze; technology; transition; silla wang-Gyong; microstructure |
| Abstract |
As an initial step to understand the forging technology of the Shilla era, the present study has examined metallurgical microstructures of 8 artifacts excavated from the Silla Wang-Gyong site in Gyeongju. As a result, important trends have been found in alloy compositions and also in manufacturing processes. In the design of alloys, the Sn content was apparently changing toward the peritectic point, 22 mass %, of the Cu-Sn phase diagram while the Pb addition was intentionally avoided. This trend in composition was found accompanied by the introduction, subsequent to casting, of such special thermo-mechanical treatments as quenching and forging in artifact manufacture. In addition, the Sn content in alloys containing a significant amount of As was relatively low and no evidence of forging was observed in them. This shows that artisans of that time had fully obtained the inter-relationship between the composing the alloy and method of manufacturing. Therefore, it could be understood as the bronze techonoligal system was at its mature level with application of this method in order to lower the brittleness of the material in bronze artifacts with high Sn contents. This paper will show that the Wang-Gyong era corresponds to that of innovations leading to the technical climax in Korean bronze tradition by providing various levels of bronze manufacturing technologies confirmed from the bronze artifacts of Wang-Gyoung remains. |