Abstract
Microstructural characterization techniques, including EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis) microanalyses, were used to investigate the slag inclusions in the microstructure of ferrous artifacts of the Royal Iron Factory of Sao Joao de Ipanema (first steel plant of Brazil, XIX century), the D. Pedro II Bridge (located in Bahia, assembled in XIX century and produced in Scotland) and the archaeological sites of Sao Miguel de Missoes (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, production site of iron artifacts, the XVIII century) and Afonso Sardinha (Sao Paulo, Brazil production site of iron artifacts, XVI century). The microanalyses results of the main microconstituents of the microstructure of the slag inclusions were investigated by hierarchical cluster analysis and the dendrogram with the microanalyses results of the wustite phase (using as critical variables the contents of MnO, MgO, Al2O3, V2O5 and TiO2) allowed the identification of four clusters, which successfully represented the samples of the four investigated sites (Ipanema, Sardinha, Missoes and Bahia). Finally, the comparatively low volumetric fraction of slag inclusions in the samples of Ipanema (~1%) suggested the existence of technological expertise at the ironmaking processing in the Royal Iron Factory of Sao Joao de Ipanema.
Highlights
This paper is a product of a research project focused on the Brazilian ironmaking history in the XIX century, from the point of view of the microstructural analysis of the slag inclusions found in iron objects
The other objective is to develop a new methodology using the EDS microanalysis of the slag inclusions in order to group and separate the samples in accordance with their sources: the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema; the Archaeological site of Afonso Sardinha (State of São Paulo, Brazil), Archaeological site of São Miguel de Missões (State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), and the Dom Pedro II Bridge (State of Bahia, Brazil, using iron imported from Scotland)
The analyzed samples are part a collection of objects, which are currently stored in the Laboratory for Microstructural Characterization Hubertus Colpaert
Summary
This paper is a product of a research project focused on the Brazilian ironmaking history in the XIX century, from the point of view of the microstructural analysis of the slag inclusions found in iron objects. The Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema was founded in 1810 in the city of Iperó (State of São Paulo, Brazil) and its blast furnaces began the production of pig iron in 1818, being the only two blast furnaces in Brazil in operation up to 18881-2. Ferrous products manufactured before the twentieth century contain much large amounts of slag inclusions in their microstructure, typically higher than 3% in volumetric fraction. These inclusions contain various oxides, which are related in terms of chemical composition to the whole production system. The chemical composition of these slag inclusions is defined by the composition of Mamani-Calcina et al
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