| Physical and chemical examination of works of art is currently a subject of interdisciplinary research. Besides the archaeological investigations, an increasing interest exists in a more fundamental knowledge of the chemical composition of the objects, the evolution of the alloy types, their metallurgy, and the patination of the artifacts. A variety of different analytical techniques have been applied to these materials.; In the first part of this work, the main emphasis has been put on the analytical possibilities of non-destructive energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (EDXRF) to study the chemical composition of archaeological copper alloys. A procedure was developed to correct for the significant matrix absorption and geometry and topology effects occurring with quantitative EDXRF on archaeological metal artifacts. The procedure was evaluated using standard reference materials and applied to the Bronze Age tools and weapons from the Hasse collection (Museum Vleeshuis, Antwerp). The objects were found to have a wide compositional range including arsenical coppers, tin-bronzes and leaded-bronzes.; In a second part of this work, more details about the heterogeneity, the microstructure and the involved corrosion processes of the materials have been examined by applying metallurgical microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The compositional change towards the surface layer is influenced by many factors during the burial of the object. Besides selective corrosion of the bronze alloy, also the use of "tinning" seems to occur in the Belgian Late Bronze Age.; In addition, a feasibility study was carried out on five South Indian bronze sculptures. The selection of these bronzes for the study was based on their availability for sampling and was guided by doubts on the antique value of one of the objects, which afterwards was investigated to be rightly. |
