An historical mullite fiber-reinforced ceramic composite: Characterization of the wootz' crucible refractory

Conference · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6299706

Lowe, T L ^[1]; Merk, N; Thomas, G ^[2]

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1. California Univ., Berkeley, CA (USA)
2. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)

Since at least the sixteenth century, the wootz'' ultra-high carbon white cast-iron ingot was produced in India by melting or carburising iron in a crucible. This ingot was forced into sword blades of so-called Damascus steel. The charged crucible was fired in a long (24-hour) single cycle at high temperature (1150-1250{degree}C) in a strongly reducing atmosphere. Raw materials for the refractory vessel are clay and coked'' rice husks. At high temperatures, two phases reinforce the glassy matrix: cristobalite relics of rice husks and a network of mullite crystals. This paper characterizes the microstructure and chemistry of the mullite network in the glassy matrix by means of a combination of techniques: optical microscopy, XRD, SEM, TEM and EDS, and HREM. 13 refs., 11 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER; INDIA
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6299706
• Report Number(s): LBL-29769; CONF-900466--94; ON: DE91005401
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360202* -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Structure & Phase Studies
360204 -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Physical Properties
CARBON
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
CRUCIBLES
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DATA
DENSITY
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FIBERS
GLASS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ION EXCHANGERS
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
LATTICE PARAMETERS
MATERIALS
MATRIX MATERIALS
MICROSCOPY
MICROSTRUCTURE
MINERALS
MULLITE
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDE MINERALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POROSITY
REFRACTORIES
REINFORCED MATERIALS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES