Determination of elemental concentrations of iron gall ink components by PIXE
- Jozef Stefan Institute, p.p.3000, SI-1001 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- National and University Library, Turjaska 1, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Askerceva 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
The harmful effects of the iron gall ink on the supporting media (i.e. paper, parchment) are known for a long time. High contents of the catalytic ions and acids present in the ink can cause corrosion of the support and even its irreversible damage. Several historical documents from National and University Library (NUL) are being studied. The samples were measured nondestructively by the in-air PIXE for determination of the iron gall elemental composition. The measured concentrations prove that the analyzed inks contain a variety of different transition metals, which may influence the ink's corrosive character. For already measured documents dating from 14th to 19th century the ink and paper elemental concentrations and their ratios to iron were studied by the statistical methods.
- OSTI ID:
- 20632615
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 680, Issue 1; Conference: 17. international conference on the application of accelerators in research and industry, Denton, TX (United States), 12-16 Nov 2002; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1619753; (c) 2003 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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