The structure analysis of iron relics excavated at dwelling site of Yangsoo-ri

양수리 주거지출토 철제유물의 금속조직과 분석-BC1-AD1 세기 추정 철제유물을 중심으로

The research was conducted to understand type of iron used by those who lived at dwelling site of Yangsoo-ri in between the first century B.C. and the first century A.D. to make steel products and their technique such as steel making process and heat treatment, based on micro structure information obtained through microscopic metallographic structure analysis with SEM-EDS of six steel productsexhumed at the site. Key findings are summarized as below. In the sense that Si-Ca-Al style and less than 0.5% of Ti were found in the non-metallic inclusion, the material used for forged iron ware was magnetite resolved in that. It is, however, unclear whether magnetite was resolved at high temperature or at low temperature. Microscopic structure analysis revealed that forged steel products were made through repeated hot working, the technique of molding by hitting after heating in the process of resolving and molding iron. As a result, the iron used here for the products was not the iron ore which was produced through resolution from discarded cast iron axe, ingot iron. It is probable that to make those steel products, disposed-of cast iron was reused after being molded by decarburizing. Although a few of relics were analyzed for the research, they were of critical importance in defining the process of ironware production from the first century B.C. and the first century A.D. at the Yangsoo-ri region. Judging from the iron from A-19 dwellingsite, it is possible to conclude that the iron was manufactured from cast iron decarburized and yet more research has to be done into relics yetto be exhumed in order to ascertain the finding. All of these findings are believed to play a critical role in further studies to define the steel-manufacturing technique used on the central Korean peninsular in the ancient times.