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Fig. 5 | Heritage Science

Fig. 5

From: Optimizing the thermal treatment for restoration of brittle archaeological silver artifacts

Fig. 5

Oxidation reaction during recrystallization. a Mechanism of the oxidation reaction. Highly efficient recrystallization (bottom right): the intergranular cracks in the core of the samples are completely healed, and the products of the oxidation are distributed in the grain boundaries or inside the α grains in the form of gray-black particles. Low efficient recrystallization (bottom left): the intergranular cracks are slightly healed, and the oxidation products are only distributed in a limited range (dark area, orange in the schematics) due to the lower efficiency of recrystallization and diffusion. b Microstructure of S850, the region of EDS mapping analysis (red box), and the elemental distribution (under b). c Microstructure of S850 (red box in b, partially enlarged view) and the position of EDS spot analysis (spots 1–6). d Microstructure of S550, the position of EDS spot analysis (spots 1–8), and the microhardness indentations of the light/dark area (partial enlarged view)

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