Study on Chinese Ancient Iron Swords and Knives by Neutron

Iron sword and knife were two important weapons in history. They represented the highest level of iron technology available in Iron Age. Xi’an is the starting place of the Silk Road and the capital of the Western Han dynasty (202 BC- 8 AD) in China. So iron weapon of the Western Han dynasty recently unearthed in Xi’an reflects local iron technology and more in general the level of iron technology of the period in the country. At present, only metallographic method were used to study iron objects unearthed in Xi 'an. Therefore it is important to find other methods to supplement the analysis like neutron diffraction. We propose to analyse the 15 samples (swords and knives) of the Han dynasty unearthed in Xi’an non-destructively by neutron diffraction, in order to obtain the carbon content and other information on the microstructure on the blades, spine, handle and/or other parts.