Historical mullite fiber-reinforced ceramic composite: Characterization of the 'wootz' crucible refractory

摘要

Since at least the sixteenth century, the ''wootz'' ultra-high carbon white cast-iron ingot was produced in India by melting or carburising iron in a crucible. This ingot was forced into sword blades of so-called Damascus steel. The charged crucible was fired in a long (24-hour) single cycle at high temperature (1150-1250(degree)C) in a strongly reducing atmosphere. Raw materials for the refractory vessel are clay and ''coked'' rice husks. At high temperatures, two phases reinforce the glassy matrix: cristobalite relics of rice husks and a network of mullite crystals. This paper characterizes the microstructure and chemistry of the mullite network in the glassy matrix by means of a combination of techniques: optical microscopy, XRD, SEM, TEM and EDS, and HREM. 13 refs., 11 figs.