Investigating the Provenance of Iron Artifacts of the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of EDS Microanalyses of Slag Inclusions

Microstructural characterization techniques, including EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis) microanalyses, were used to investigate the slag inclusions in the microstructure of ferrous artifacts of the Royal Iron Factory of São João de Ipanema (first steel plant of Brazil, XIX century), the D. Pedro II Bridge (located in Bahia, assembled in XIX century and produced in Scotland) and the archaeological sites of São Miguel de Missões (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, production site of iron artifacts, the XVIII century) and Afonso Sardinha (São Paulo, Brazil production site of iron artifacts, XV...