Abstract
Prior to the mastering of metallic zinc production in the mid-19th century, brass making in Europe was based on the so-called cementation process: within a more or less closed vessel, gaseous zinc is produced by the carbothermic reduction of zinc ore at around 1,000°C (±100°C), and simultaneously diffuses into metallic copper. Few ancient brass objects dated before the Industrial Revolution analyzed so far bear more than 30 wt.% zinc, so that this zinc content value has become a dating criterion for these artifacts. The systematic laboratory-scale experimental simulations of the ancient process presented here permit the multiple influences of temperature, isothermal treatment duration, and initial Zn/Cu ratio on the zinc content of the final products, and on the zinc recovery rates as well, to be investigated for the first time.
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