여수 봉산동 출토의 사철 쇠똥에 대하여

Metallography of Iron Slag Excavated from Bongsan-dong, Yeosu City in the Period of the 16th to 19th Century

Chemical analysis and metallographic observations of the iron slag were carried out in an attempt to estimate the old iron-making process. The slag containing $9.3\%\;TiO_2$ without Cu indicates that the ore used for smelting was sand iron, not rock ore. The phases identified in the slag were $ulv\ddot{o}spinel$, magnetite, $w\ddot{u}stite$, fayalite etc. This also supports the fact that the smelted ore was iron sand. The total amount of Fe and slag-making components$(=SiO_2+Al_2O_3+MgO+CaO)$ were $40.7\%\;and\;36.1\%$, respectively. These values were average ones found in the old slags formed in the ancient iron-making process. Assuming that $TiO_2$ in the ore combines with FeO, resulting in the formation of $ulv\ddot{o}spinel$, the estimated temperature of smelting was found to be about $1200^{\circ}C$.