Elemental analysis techniques

Process:

Under an electron beam, the atoms constituting the matter transmit X-rays with a characteristic energy for each element. This analysis allows to identify minor and major chemical elements constituting a material..

Applications:

Identification of the matter components (pigments, metals, stones, glass, etc.), of corrosion products, provenance study, etc.
Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis.
Process:

Under an accelerated proton beam, atoms constituting matter transmit characteristic X-rays. These X-rays are detected with specialised sensors allowing to obtain elemental composition of a material with major components (>10%), minor components (<10%) and traces (<1%).
This is a Non Destructive Analysis (NDA).

Applications:

Specific application to the study of vitreous and metallic materials (composition and provenance study).
Qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Process:

Under an electron beam, atoms constituting matter transmit characteristic X-rays that are detected according their wavelength. This analysis gives access to the composition of the material with major, minor and traces elements.

Applications:

Identification of the matter components (pigments, metals, stones, etc.), of the corrosion products, provenance study, etc.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Process:

Under a laser beam, the material is disintegrated in the form of nanoparticles then sent in a plasma. This plasma is accelerated towards a mass spectrometer to analyse the elements constituting the material.

Applications:

Specific application to metals and glasses. Allows to obtain very precise chemical composition.
This technique is used to detect (when necessary) trace elements (for gold especially).
Process:

Identification of anions by X-ray diffraction and dosing with ionic chromatography and ICP-AES.

Applications:

Allows identification of soluble salts on weathered stones, prior to the establishment of desalting treatment.
Copper alloys
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Silver
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Dating
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Wood and other organic materials
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Gold
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Painting
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Stone
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Glass
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LABORATOIRE MSMAP
Artwork and archaeological objects analysis