Which risk increases when Bronze Age artisans repeatedly cold-work a bronze blade without annealing?

💡 Explanation

When bronze is repeatedly cold-worked without annealing, work hardening occurs because dislocations accumulate within the crystal structure, impeding further deformation and increasing brittleness. Therefore, brittle fracture risk increases, rather than grain growth, copper depletion, or tin segregation, which arise from different metallurgical processes or conditions.

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