Investigation into the corrosion products of gildings in paintings and archaeological metallic artefacts

Both preventive and interventive conservation benefit from the insight gained into the deterioration products and mechanisms of their formations. Beyond conservation, the determination of corrosion products helps for the reconstruction of the original appearances of paintings, metallic and other objects in cultural heritage. This informs art historical, historical, and archaeological investigations among others. The main objective of the intended experiment is the identification of the mineralogical phases of the deterioration products in gilded and metallic heritage materials using synchrotron-based high resolution XRD. Prior investigations based on XRF, optical microscopy and SEM-EDS have provided useful information. The elemental composition and imaging must be complemented by molecular and crystal structural techniques. The EBS of the European Synchrotron provides high photon flux and lateral resolution for sensitive mineralogical determinations on micro-samples using HRPD.