Chemical (elemental or isotopic) compositional data are important to characterize cultural heritage objects. Based on the compositional data, conclusions can be drawn about the provenance of their raw material, production techniques or their genuineness. Since neutrons can enter the deeper regions of the sample, they are ideal for bulk analysis. Furthermore, in most cases, the induced activity decays fast after the investigation. In case of Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA), the investigated objects are placed in an external beam of thermal or cold neutrons the emitted prompt and delayed gamma photons are detected in parallel with the irradiation. With PGAA, typically the major components and some trace elements (H, Cl, B, Co, Cd, Hg, Nd, Sm and Gd) with a few ppm detection limits can be detected. In case of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), higher sensitivities are available. A few tens of milligrams of samples are irradiated in the reactor core, and the delayed gamma photons are detected afterwards. Typically, less than 0.01 μg quantities of 35–75 major- and trace elements can be determined with NAA. PGAA and NAA are perfect complementary methods to cover a wide range of major and trace elements in materials of natural (geological) origin. Finally, Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAI) is an extension of PGAA to perform elemental mapping of large objects with inhomogeneous elemental distribution.
Fields of application
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Cultural heritage
metal objects, stone tools, glass, ceramics, archaeological object
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Natural heritage
shell, skeleton, rocks
Materials
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inorganic
glass, stone, metal and metallurgical By-Products, ceramic (clay, mud brick, terracotta, earthenware, stoneware, porcelain)
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organic
wood, paper, textiles
TOOLS
Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a method for quantitative composition analysis of chemical elements based on the conversion of stable nuclei in the sample to radioactive nuclei by nuclear reactions, followed by the quantitation of the reaction products via their gamma radiations. The k0-standardized neutron activation analysis (k0-NAA), combined with high-resolution and highthroughput gamma-ray spectrometry,...
Provider
Budapest Neutron CenterContact person
Katalin Gméling
NIPS NORMA station allows performing a position-sensitive elemental analysis of well-defined spots on larger objects (sculptures, vessels, etc. with up to the size of ca. 15 cm). Furthermore, it is possible to combine the 2D or 3D neutron imaging with local elemental analysis. At the moment, this technique is exclusively available at the BNC. The...
Provider
Budapest Neutron CenterContact person
László Szentmiklósi
The PGAA instrument is located near the end position of the neutron guide No. 1. The upgraded 2Qc supermirror neutron guide improved the thermal-equivalent neutron flux at the PGAA sample positions to 9.6x10 7cm-2 s-1. The beam can be collimated to a maximum cross-section of 2x2 cm². Other cross-sections of 14x14 mm², 10x10 mm², 42...
Provider
Budapest Neutron CenterContact person
Zsolt Kasztovszky
NAA is very useful in investigating prehistoric finds, for their origin and provenance as well as in identifying trace elements in pigments, identification of forgeries. Detailed technical and experimental information is available at the web page of the instrument https://mlz-garching.de/naa
Provider
Heinz Maier Leibniz ZentrumContact person
Zsolt Revay
PGAA is very useful in investigating restauration / conservation, provenance, check of authenticity of ceramics, glass, building material, coins and other metal objects. Detailed technical and experimental information is available at the web page of the instrument https://mlz-garching.de/pgaa
Provider
Heinz Maier Leibniz ZentrumContact person
Zsolt Revay
PGAI-NT is very useful in investigating archaeological artefacts where the composition and the spatial distribution of the traced elements is important. Detailed technical and experimental information is available at the web page of the instrument https://mlz-garching.de/pgai-nt In a Roman coin weigh made of lead pieces of copper could be found – most probable, the pieces...