Laser cleaning: a study on greyish alteration induced on non-patinated marbles

Abstract

During a conservative operation, a restorer noted a grey shade on a ‘fresh’ (recently fractured) marble surface during laser cleaning. Following this report, the authors began a study on ten Carrara white marble specimens polished on the surface and treated in the same restoration conditions using two types of laser equipment: the first one a Q-switched laser (20-ns pulse), the second one a short free-running laser with a medium pulsewidth of 20 μs. In a few specimens a grey shade appears on the surface. These specimens were investigated by optical microscopy in reflected and raking light and by SEM/EDX. After that, the same samples were embedded in resin and polished to obtain cross sections to be analysed in the same way. Results show that the white marble of the greyish samples contains very small fragments of pyrite (iron sulphide) of dark shiny aspect and that after cleaning the aspect of the fragment appreciably changes. The morphological studies allow two different behaviours of dark inclusion to be observed following the different laser pulses: the first one occurs after short-pulse laser treatment in the form of micro-explosion surrounding the pyrite grains (mechanical effect); the second one (medium pulsewidth) appears like a fusion and spread of particles on the surface. Results are reported showing microphotographs and SEM/EDS documentation.