Analysis Of Bronzes Research Articles

Benchmarking PGAA, in-beam NAA, reactor-NAA and handheld XRF spectrometry for the element analysis of archeological bronzes

Novel detection strategies were developed to improve the PGAA methodology in the analysis of bronze and brass objects. Instrumental neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence were also involved in this study for comparison. The approach was tested on a set of IRMM-certified copper alloys. Reference values for the concentrations of four major additive components (As, Zn, Sn, and Pb) were compared with the results obtained by the involved methods. The bias observed between the reference Sn values and the initial PGAA results was successfully addressed by considering the interference of this line with low intensity copper prompt gamma peaks. In this report results are presented, and the analytical merits are compared.

Spectrographic Analysis of Bronzes by a Solution Method

Spectrographic Analysis of Bronzes by a Solution Method

1. The Early Metallurgy of Copper and Bronze

Discussing the analysis of early copper and bronze implements, the author points out that relatively pure copper may derive either from the use of native metal or as the result of fire refining. From the analyses of bronzes it would seem that pure coppers of the latter kind were bring used in the alloy. Because of day-to-day working variations, the author warns against attempts to correlate ores with final metallic products by study of analyses.