Short Communication
Growene W.Queiros, Laura Garci
Abstract
Metallographically, hot forged hypoeutectoid steels from archaeological artifacts more than 2000 years old have been observed. They show the microstructural evolution of pearlite over time. The structures observed for this old pearlite differ from those observed in forged and normalized hypo-eutectoid steels at present. This means that the thermodynamic equilibrium of pearlitic morphology is for very long periods of time.