This article analyzes tests made using bronze engraving knives with different Sn content (Sn: 12%, 16%, 20%, 23%, 26%, 30%) on bronze plates (Sn: 12%), and finds that they can be successfully engraved. Differences are noted in the effectiveness of the engraving and wear on the engraving knives. The 20% Sn knife was durable and had clear engraving effectiveness. Knives below this value had curled edges, while those above this value had flattened or broken edges, and the engraving effect was not ideal. With the increase of Sn content, the hardness of bronze increases first and then decreases, and with the addition of Pb, the hardness generally decreases, providing suitable conditions for carving. By examining the macroscopic mechanical properties and the microscopic metallographic structure, this article also analyzes the reasons for the above-mentioned experimental phenomena, and with the cooperation of scanning electron microscopy and XRD, further discusses the mechanism of the hardness first rising and then falling. Finally, from the technical point of view, inscriptions done during the early Bronze Age were not difficult to achieve, and there was no need for the use of iron tools. This research thus provides an experimental and theoretical basis for the Western Zhou Dynasty Jinhou Su Bell and earlier Shang Dynasty inscriptions.
Kai Zhang (Sun,) studied this question.