The iron making experiments were carried out by the society for study of Nichinan-tatara. In these experiments for a smelting, a simulated Tatara iron making furnace and a raw material of specularite ore produced from Mt. Sentsu-zan in Tattori were used. Iron lunp after the smelting process was refined by a smith process. Iron lump and slag from the smelting process and the refining process, specularite ore and clay as a furnace material were observed by a microscope and an electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA). Concentration of carbon and sulfur in iron lump, specularite ore and clay were determined by a carbon and sulfur analyzer with a combustion infrared absorption method. Concentration of many trace elements in iron lump, slag, specularite ore and clay were determined by a neutron activation analysis (NAA).
Concentration sulfur in iron lump from the 1st iron smelting experiment was high of about 0.86%. Specularite ore used in the 1st iron smelting experiment was low grade quality and pyrite ore with high concentration of sulfur was included in specularite ore. The existence of non metallic inclusions were observed in iron lump after iron making and iron lump after smithing by optical microscope. The existence of sulfur was confirmed to these non metallic inclusions by the EPMA analysis. It was clarified that the sulfide existed in iron lump from these results. It turned out that these sulfide originated in pyrite by XRD.
