Which failure arises when ancient bronze-smiths repeatedly cold work weapon edges without annealing?

💡 Explanation

When cold working a bronze edge without annealing, the metal undergoes work hardening because dislocation density increases leading to increased brittleness. Therefore, work hardening and fracture propagation arise, rather than ductility increase, creep deformation, or recrystallization which require heat treatment or different stress conditions.

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