Analysis of ancient materials and their degradation
Weekly outline
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Your oral exam (Monday 29. 01. 2018) will be composed at 80% of a brief presentation of an article, in the same vein as the assignments made during the course. The remaining 20% of your grade will be based on one or two questions about concepts and techniques learnt during the course.
You need to give me, before January 09 the article that you intend to present. Following criteria should be fulfilled:
- The study deals with the analysis of ancient materials.
- The techniques (imaging and spectroscopy) are related at least partly with those seen in the course.
- Case-studies are preferred to methodological developments, although these latter might be accepted if clear enough to extract the Why?What?Where?How?.
EPFL online access to journals is rather broad. If however you cannot find the article, send me the reference and I will try to find it for you.
Once you deposed the article in this assignment, I will tell you as soon as possible if I accept it or not. In case not, you will have to find another one, still before January 10. So do not wait the last minute to find it! (you need anyway to read it and prepare for the oral).
Best of all,
Claire Gervais
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Introduction
- Materials, a short introduction.
- Overview of the course, aims and organisation.
- Materials, a short introduction.
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Introduction
- Ancient Materials, definition and specificity.
- Overview of typical domains of research on ancient materials: material provenance and trading, art technology, degradation phenomena, preventive conservation.
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Introduction to ancient materials and their specificities. Brief presentation of typical fields of studies by means of case-studies.
- Ancient Materials, definition and specificity.
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No Lecture this week
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Focus on imaging techniques and the preparatory steps required to get "good" images (sample preparation).
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Focus on technique (XAS)
- Overview of light-matter interactions
- Introduction to synchrotron light (generation, selection, focusing)
- First elements of the physics behind X-ray absorption spectroscopy
- Chemical and structural information obtained by XANES and EXAFS
- Overview of light-matter interactions
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Case-study 1: Exercise session
- Case-study: Discoloration of smalt pigment in oil paintings by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and elemental analysis, based on article published in Analytical Chemistry.
- Emphasis on the structure of the paper and its introduction, introduction to the concepts WHAT/WHY/WHERE/HOW which illustrates the fundamental principles of what research is, how it is conducted and how it is reported.
- Case-study: Discoloration of smalt pigment in oil paintings by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and elemental analysis, based on article published in Analytical Chemistry.
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Case-study 1: Focus on structure of research
- Correction exercise
- Analysis of the results, their correlation and their interpretation to reach a clear output/conclusion
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Practical session and exercise
Some small but practical focus shots:
- Focus on the calculation of X-ray attenuation coefficients and estimates of penetration depths in materials.
- Overview of X-ray absorption spectroscopy modalities (transmission vs fluorescence). Recall of principles of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.
- Very short overview of chemical imaging modalities.
- Focus on the calculation of X-ray attenuation coefficients and estimates of penetration depths in materials.
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Assignment 2: See details below. Due for December 1st, 8am.
Case-study 2: Focus on multi-modal techniques for the retrieval of lost painting by Van Gogh- Recall technique and their modalities: XRF and XAS, punctual vs imaging, penetration depth, fluorescence vs transmission detection
- Sketching of experimental set-up and analysis of the motivation behind the use of each technique and modalities
- Analysis of the entire analytical pathway and final result
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This assignment is similar to the first one, but with additional questions regarding data interpretation and discussion. The paper is one of mine, dealing with the pigment Prussian blue and its discoloration in paper artworks.
For the assignment to be complete, you should upload two documents: 1) the assignment sheet (two versions provided, docx and pdf) and 2) the pdf of the article with highlighting.
Beside precision and concision in your answer, creativity in drawing and mind mapping will be appreciated. (you have the right to enjoy and have fun while doing your assignment...!)
Good lecture, work and drawing!
- Recall technique and their modalities: XRF and XAS, punctual vs imaging, penetration depth, fluorescence vs transmission detection
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Introduction to X-ray Tomography.
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Correction Assignment Prussian blue + Example of real Presentation on the topic (International conference on X-ray absorption spectroscopy, 2015, Karlsruhe).
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Presentation on how to do a good presentation.
+ wrap-up course and exam.