Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on artistic bronze and copper artificial patinas

To prevent the natural processes of decay and to develop and improve the treatments of conservation and restoration of artistic bronzes meaning statues and sculptures, it is important understanding the patination processes and the knowledge of artificially corroded surfaces. Chemical and physical characterization of artificial patinas obtained on artistic bronzes and coppers by using the 19th century Western traditional patination techniques and recipes by means of SEM–EDS, light microscopy and ATR/ FT-IR has been done in previous studies [I.Z. Balta, L. Robbiola, Characterization of artificial black patinas on artistic cast bronze and pure copper by using SEM–EDS and light microscopy, in: Proceedings of the 13th European Microscopy Congress, 22–27 August 2004, Antwerp, Belgium, EMC 2004 CD-Rom Conference Preprints; I.Z. Balta, L. Robbiola, Traditional artificial artistic bronze and copper patinas—an investigation by SEM–EDS and ATR/FT-IR, in: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Non Destructive Investigations and Microanalysis for the Diagnostics and Conservation of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage, 15–19 May 2005, Lecce, Italy, ART’05 CD-Rom Conference Preprints]. Differences in morphology (structure, thickness, porosity, adherence, compactity, uniformity, homogeneity) and also in composition, on both artistic cast bronze and pure copper patinas, were clearly evidenced. Further in-depth investigation is required to be carried out in order to better understand the patinas mechanisms of formation and the layers kinetics of growth. The elemental and chemical analysis, either on a surface monolayer or in a depth profile, by using the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) techniques, can provide this kind of information, unique at trace-level sensitivity. SIMS has proved to be a suitable analytical technique for analyzing small amounts of material with high atomic sensitivity (ppm or even ppb) and high depth/ lateral resolution in the micron and sub-micron range [R.G. Wilson, F.A. Stevie, C.W. Magee, Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry: A Practical Handbook for Depth Profiling and Bulk Impurity Analysis, Wiley & Sons, New York, 1989; M. Dowsett, A. Adriaens, The role of SIMS in cultural heritage studies, Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. B 226 (2004) 38–52]. XPS has the ability to provide detailed chemical information on virtually each kind of solid sample, and elemental identification is therefore possible due to the core level photoemission. The most important advantage is the high surface sensitivity of the chemical information (a few monolayers) [E. Ciliberto, G. Spoto, Modern Analytical Methods in Art and Archaeology, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000]. In addition elements’ relative abundance can be made semiquantitative or quantitative and information on chemical bonds can be derived. The aim of the present work is to highlight the advantages and the limits of XPS and Dynamic SIMS surface analytical techniques for the characterization of artistic bronze and copper artificial patinas. The results obtained on the analyzed samples allowed the distribution of themain elements in the corrosion patinas layers and the contribution of each elements present in bronze matrix to the color of the resulting patinas to be precisely revealed. This information could be used for comparative studies between artificial and natural patinas, and also for provenience and authentication studies for artistic and archaeological bronzes.