engleski

Validation of portable XRF measurements on corroded artistic bronzes by ion beam techniques

One of the most often used non-destructive methods for elemental analysis when performing field measurements on bronze sculptures is X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis based on portable instrumentation. However, when performing routine in-situ XRF analysis on very corroded objects the obtained results are sometimes considerably influenced by the corrosion surface products. Outdoor bronze sculptures are vulnerable to atmospheric corrosion environments – from acid rain containing sulfates and carbonates in urban- industrial environment, to chlorides in marine environmental exposure, which are main cause of “bronze disease”. In this work artificially corroded bronze samples were analyzed by a portable XRF instrument using the same methodology and procedures as when performing in-situ analysis on real objects. The same samples were then further investigated using more sophisticated laboratory techniques (micro-PIXE and micro-RBS), in order to gain precise information on the formation of the corrosion product layers for different aging parameters. In this way a correlation was established between the portable XRF results and the results obtained with ion beam techniques, which yield additional and complementary information. Consequently, this knowledge helps in the future when interpreting the spectra obtained during regular field measurements on corroded bronze surfaces using a standard portable XRF with mentioned limitations.

Portable XRF; Corrosion; Ion beam techniques (PIXE; RBS)

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