High Energy Tomography CT analysis of Bronze male Bust With collaboration of Museo Archeologico of Bologna
An interesting class of archaeological samples is represented by bronze artifacts. Most of these objects were made hollow using very different techniques and styles. Moreover, this material is strongly subjected to a number of deterioration agents and environmental aggressions that damage
both the surface and the inner parts of the object. On the other hand, bronze presents a number of drawbacks with regards to X-ray NDT; in fact, even a small thickness of material can stop completely the radiation beam.
For example, inspection using conventional X-ray tube can be applied only to bronze objects of few millimeters thickness. Therefore, high energy inspection systems are required to investigate successfully these samples.
Our CT system has been tested on a small and hollow bronze reproduction of a male bust (about 10 cm high and 5 cm large)
The total thickness of bronze traversed by X radiation is larger than 1 cm; this requires an industrial X-ray tube tuned at 300 kVp and 10 mA. The larger focal spot of the X-ray beam and the considerable radiation scattering produced by the object limit the spatial resolution at about 800 µm.
