{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T17:24:58Z","timestamp":1790097898677,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]],"date-time":"2022-03-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648425600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this study, it was found that an ancient bronze sword had special microstructures, i.e., a tin (Sn)-rich layer (Sn: 38.51 wt.%), that was around 0.1\u20130.3 mm in thickness in the bronze substrate (Sn: 18.57 wt.%). This sword was unearthed from the same Chu tombs of the \u201cSword of Gou Jian\u201d, and dated back to the late Spring and Autumn Period (496 BC\u2013464 BC). The experimental and theoretical analyses revealed that (1) the Sn-rich layer exhibited higher microhardness (around 650 HV) than the sword body (around 300 HV); (2) the Sn-rich layer showed a brittle fracture due to the formation of a large amount of \u03b1 + \u03b4 eutectoid, while the sword body was of good toughness due to a large amount of \u03b1-Cu solid solution phase; and (3) theoretical calculations of Sn diffusion in the Cu substrate indicated that this Sn-rich layer could have been formed within several hours or several days if the temperature was above 600 \u00b0C. Therefore, this sword was proposed to be a novel kind of composite bronze sword, and the possible manufacturing technique was a surface treatment called \u201cdip or wipe tinning\u201d or tin amalgam, which was widely used in the Bronze Age. Technically, this process possesses more advantages than the well-known two-times casting for making the \u201cdouble-colour\u201d or bi-metallic composite bronze sword. This research showed that the materials processing level was beyond our expectations for ancient China 2500 years ago.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma15072491","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,29]],"date-time":"2022-03-29T21:41:30Z","timestamp":1648590090000},"page":"2491","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["A Special Ancient Bronze Sword and Its Possible Manufacturing Technique from Materials Science Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1530-1207","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chi","family":"Xie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nanostructures, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunlin","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sishi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nanostructures, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lingmin","family":"Liao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials and Structural Department, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan 430010, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guantao","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Archaeometry, Archaeological Institute for Yangtze Civilization, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9007-8562","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chunxu","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nanostructures, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"},{"name":"Center for Archaeometry, Archaeological Institute for Yangtze Civilization, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"},{"name":"Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"141","article-title":"A study of bronze weapons of the Wu State","volume":"2","author":"Xiao","year":"1991","journal-title":"Acta Archaeol. 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Archaeol."}],"container-title":["Materials"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1944\/15\/7\/2491\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T22:44:58Z","timestamp":1760136298000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1944\/15\/7\/2491"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]]},"references-count":15,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4]]}},"alternative-id":["ma15072491"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ma15072491","relation":{},"ISSN":["1996-1944"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1996-1944","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]]}}}