A non-invasive XRD/XRF instrument for study of works of art has been developed jointly by the Getty Conservation Institute and inXitu Inc. (California). Many aspects of the instrument are based on technologies initially developed for NASA’s planetary XRD/XRF instrument CheMin and used in inXitu’s portable transmission XRD/XRF instrument (Terra). A new geometry was designed based on a reflection configuration to allow analyzing large flat objects such as mural paintings in a non-destructive way. The instrument uses a miniature X-ray tube and a CCD detector to collect both XRD and XRF signatures. All components are in fixed position relative to each other to guarantee a rugged stable geometry. The instrument also includes an imaging camera to collect high magnification images of the area analyzed and allow precise control of its positioning in the focusing plane. The instrument prototype was tested on a number of mockup samples and on art objects of the Getty collection.
[1]
A. Rodríguez-Navarro.
XRD2DScan: new software for polycrystalline materials characterization using two‐dimensional X‐ray diffraction
,
2006
.
[2]
Giacomo Chiari,et al.
Saving art in situ
,
2008,
Nature.
[3]
D. Blake,et al.
A mineralogical instrument for planetary applications
,
1994
.
[4]
Philippe Walter,et al.
A portable instrument for in situ determination of the chemical and phase compositions of cultural heritage objects
,
2008
.
[5]
D. Blake,et al.
VIBRATING SAMPLE HOLDER FOR XRD ANALYSIS WITH MINIMAL SAMPLE PREPARATION
,
2005
.
[6]
A. Shimono,et al.
Portable X-ray diffractometer equipped with XRF for archaeometry
,
2005
.