Authentication by the study of the nature of the materials present in the object

Techniques allowing the analysis of the composition of the materials

Ultramicroanalysis

a. Principle :

consists in connecting to a scanning electron microscope a system of elementary analysis based on the X-rays micro-fluorescence in order to be able to analyse very definite zones of a sample

b. Applications :

extremely varied

c. Advantages :

in addition to those linked to electron microscopy, ultramicroanalysis allows, among other things:

to identify the mineral constituents of each stratum of a pictorial layer
to identify and proportion the components of an alloy
to identify the corrosion products
to check the nature of the metallic concretions which form crystallizations on the surface of archaeological objects
to focus the excitation source on a precise dot of the sample or else to scan the whole surface or a determined zone of the sample
to study the way the elements are combining with each other using the "mapping" process (image of the distribution of each element in the sample)

Other techniques of analysis of the composition of the materials : emission spectrometries
Other techniques of magnification : stereoscopy - electron microscopy - metallography