Silver coins, such as
mameitagin, which were used in the Edo period, were composed of a silver and copper alloy. In case the
mameitagin casting was performed with low silver concentration, traditional metal works technique called
iroage was performed on the coin to elute the copper from the alloy and produce an Ag-rich layer on the surface. In a previous study, we reproduced the
iroage treatment on an Ag-Cu alloy using
umezu (plum vinegar) as the treatment liquid and clarified that citric acid, malic acid and sodium chloride that are the main constituents of
umezu, elute copper in the treatment liquid. In this study, the
iroage treatment on Ag-Cu alloys was performed under various conditions to clarify the effect of different treatment conditions. The silver concentration of the Ag-Cu alloy samples used in this study were 75%, 45%, and 15%, and the color, surface structure, and silver concentration before and after treatment were investigated by spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), respectively. First, the
iroage treatment was performed by varying the immersion time in the treatment liquid. The results show that the copper elution velocity differed depending on Ag concentration in the samples. The treatment liquid temperature affected the amount of copper eluted. The percentage of
umezu in the treatment solution did not affect the elution amount of copper. The
iroage treatment was performed several times in the samples, and the EDS analysis showed that Ag concentration widely varied after treatment. The results suggest that the surface conditions of the repeatedly treated samples affected the copper elution.
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