Studies on Conservation and Metallographic Manufacturing Technique of Iron Mirror in the Korean Christian Museum at Soongsil University Collections

Abstract

Ancient mirrors are generally made of bronze, and it is very rare to find cases of iron mirrors excavated domestically. In this study, the unidentified ferrous artifact was treated for conservation, and was identified as a mirror. In this process, the sample was taken and analyzed for microstructure, and the manufacturing technology was studied. Analysis involved optical microscope, micro-hardness tester, and SEM-EDS. As the result of analysis, iron mirror structure exist not almost non-metallic inclusions, and partially network cementite was observed. This appears to have been caused by reduced carbon content due to decarburizing the cast iron in the solid state mirror which was created by cast iron. The ledeburite structure of the casting has difficult to cut or polish because has great hardness by high carbon content. Thus, the cast iron mirror was decarburized at a temperature under 850℃ with CO or CO2 blocked, which reduced the hardness of the iron mirror and made it possible to polish the mirror surface. This deformation of structure according to carbon content results from such manufacturing technology.