Analysis of bell material from the Middle Ages to the recent time

Abstract Much has been recently published relating to the performance and failure mechanisms of church and cloister bells. However, there has been no attempt to correlate such data with the microstructure, chemical composition, design and sound of bells. Thus, some of the published hypotheses and assumptions have been made with minimal scientific basis. In this article various features relating to the bell-making process in different centuries are discussed, including information based on metallographic and chemical analyses of bell material taken from a number of bells cast between 1556 and 1995. We also consider the implied extent of the scientific knowledge of bell-makers from the Middle Ages and investigate the validity of some of their generally held theories for the creation of sound, defect-free artefacts, while recognizing their enormous practical skills.