Nondestructive Study of Iron Artifacts using High-energy X-ray and Pulsed Neutron

Abstract

It is said that traditional Japanese iron has good workability and is difficult to rust. The reasons for these characteristics lie in the raw materials, iron making technique, and iron manufacturing technique of ancient Japan. However, the details of those techniques are not clear as they were mainly kept secret. We have been studying the metallurgical microstructure of Japanese iron artifacts, such as a Japanese matchlock gun, by destructive methods and nondestructive methods using high-energy X-ray. Furthermore, recently we have started a nondestructive study of iron artifacts using pulsed neutron. In this paper, we describe the present status of our nondestructive study. The purpose of this work is to compare the results of destructive and nondestructive methods and to contribute to the advancement of the nondestructive study of iron artifacts. The final goal of our study is to analyze iron artifacts systematically by nondestructive methods, to clarify the metallurgical characteristics of iron artifacts, and to reveal the traditional Japanese iron making and forging techniques.