Brunetti Antonio, Porcaro Marta, Bustamante Angel, Stegel Giovanni, Cesareo Roberto
Biomedical Sciences Department, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Natural Science Department, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Materials (Basel). 2022 Jun 24;15(13):4452. doi: 10.3390/ma15134452.
Depleted metals have been produced since many centuries ago. Probably the most famous examples from ancient times are the so-called Tumbaga gold artifacts, whose production was introduced by the pre-Colombian civilizations. Tumbaga-like structures have been identified also in modern nanotechnological materials. In both cases, but specially for the ancient Tumbaga, due to their preciousness, their characterization should be obtained by non-destructive analysis. Several analytical protocols have been developed, some of them non-destructive, such as those based on X-ray Fluorescence, but the results obtained do not always allow for a reliable identification of Tumbaga with respect to gilding or single alloy samples. Besides the capability to distinguish between different structures of the sample, it is also important to obtain a quantitative estimation of its composition. In order to meet this demand, a new approach based on X-ray Fluorescence coupled to Monte Carlo simulations is proposed. It allows one to distinguish easily between the three manufacturing techniques and to quantify the composition of the sample without any destructive sampling. It constitutes a new tool for the study of complex alloy structures. The protocol is applied here to some ancient Tumbaga gold samples and is described in detail, comparing the results to those obtained with other techniques.
贫金属自几个世纪前就已被生产出来。古代最著名的例子可能是所谓的图姆巴加黄金制品，其生产由前哥伦布时期的文明引入。在现代纳米技术材料中也发现了类似图姆巴加的结构。在这两种情况下，特别是对于古代的图姆巴加，由于其珍贵性，其表征应通过无损分析获得。已经开发了几种分析方法，其中一些是无损的，例如基于X射线荧光的方法，但所获得的结果并不总是能够可靠地将图姆巴加与镀金或单一合金样品区分开来。除了能够区分样品的不同结构外，对其成分进行定量估计也很重要。为了满足这一需求，提出了一种基于X射线荧光与蒙特卡罗模拟相结合的新方法。它可以轻松地区分三种制造技术，并在不进行任何破坏性采样的情况下对样品的成分进行定量。它构成了研究复杂合金结构的一种新工具。该方法在此应用于一些古代图姆巴加黄金样品，并进行了详细描述，将结果与其他技术获得的结果进行了比较。
