Speaker
Description
Scientific investigations have played a major role in the field of heritage and archaeological science, especially regarding materials that have been transformed through human activity like metals, ceramics etc…. Neutron and muon techniques can be used to determine manufacturing methods and conservation status of ancient and historical artefacts, investigating the inner structure and the phase composition and microstructure, but can also be used for elemental analysis.
Thanks to the high penetration power of neutrons, measurements performed through neutron methods allow for quantitative determination of bulk properties of the samples in a non-destructive way. This opens up the possibility of investigating objects otherwise unsuitable, due to their cultural and/or historical importance. At the ISIS facility, investigations in the field of Heritage Science are now routinely performed, taking advantage of the available portfolio of instruments and techniques. These includes more conventional methods like neutron diffraction and neutron imaging, and more innovative ones like elemental imaging and analysis with isotopic sensitivity, based on neutron resonance absorption spectroscopy (NRTI and NRCA) and negative muons (depth profile analysis).
Depth profiling with negative muons is a novel non-invasive technique that can be used in cultural heritage for elemental analysis, scanning different depth of the sample volumes non-destructively.
In this talk, I will give some examples of how neutron and muon methods can be pivotal to improve our knowledge of ancient manufacturing processes of metals in particular, their technological evolution over the centuries, and how they degrade over time, with examples on bronze statues, steel blades, coins etc...