Neutron diffraction for non-destructive evaluation of composition and microstructure in highly heterogeneous ancient steel from Mongolia

Recent analytical research on ancient metal objects recovered in Mongolia revealed that the early bronze and iron-making technologies can be clearly differentiated from those practiced in contemporaneous China. The nomadic life style of Mongolian population was not compatible with the production of large size artistic artefacts, typical of urban centres, therefore they developed a tradition of production of high quality transportable small size artistic objects.Iron artefacts recovered in Mongolia often display evidence of small-scale engineering processes applied to their production. We expect to determine, using neutron diffraction on iron and steel samples, the average carbon content and the texture degree corresponding to the various observed microstructures