ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Optimisation of NRTI for quantitative analysis of multi-elemental copper alloys of historical interest: Cu-Zn, Cu-Zn-Pb and Cu-Zn-Sn-Pb solutions

Abstract: Historical metallurgy, and in particular bronze and other copper alloy metallurgy, represents a research topic of strong importance in the study of the artistic and technological evolution of different civilisations. During ongoing research, based on neutron imaging, diffraction and transmission studies, our group addressed technological, degradation and conservation issues on ancient bronze artifacts. We obtained promising results with Cu-Sn-Pb alloy characterization and calibration, obtaining a 1 year extension to the INFN CHNet-BRONZE project for 2026, aiming at characterizing the Cu-Zn based binary, ternary and quaternary alloys (other elements being Sn and Pb), which became of extreme importance in European metallurgy since early Middle Ages and are the most used alloys in Asian historical metallurgy since 10th Century A.D. The current proposal is devoted to the quantitative optimisation of NRTI using Cu-Zn, Cu-Zn-Pb and Cu-Zn-Sn-Pb alloys.

Principal Investigator: Dr Giulia Marcucci
Experimenter: Dr Luisa Vigorelli
Experimenter: Professor Daniela Di Martino
Experimenter: Dr Francesco Grazzi
Experimenter: Professor Alessandro Re
Local Contact: Dr Antonella Scherillo

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610492

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2610492

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Giulia Marcucci et al; (2026): Optimisation of NRTI for quantitative analysis of multi-elemental copper alloys of historical interest: Cu-Zn, Cu-Zn-Pb and Cu-Zn-Sn-Pb solutions, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610492

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.