Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2013
The Italian Neutron Experimental Station (INES) located at the ISIS pulsed neutron source 23 (Did... more The Italian Neutron Experimental Station (INES) located at the ISIS pulsed neutron source 23 (Didcot, United Kingdom) provides a thermal neutron beam mainly used for diffraction analysis. 24 A neutron transmission imaging system was also developed for beam monitoring and for aligning 25 the sample under investigation. Although the time-of-flight neutron diffraction is a consolidated 26 technique, the neutron imaging setup is not yet completely characterized and optimized. In this 27 paper the performance for neutron radiography and tomography at INES of two scintillator screens 28 read out by two different commercial CCD cameras is compared in terms of linearity, signal-to-29 noise ratio, effective dynamic range and spatial resolution. In addition, the results of neutron 30 radiographies and a tomography of metal alloy test structures are presented to better characterize 31 the INES imaging capabilities of metal artifacts in the cultural heritage field.
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Papers by Lorenzo Visca
X-ray computed tomography (CT) is now used in the cultural heritage field because it is non-invasive and it can give a large amount of information on the inner structure of the object under study. Until recently mainly medical CT scanners or micro-CT setups have been used, limiting the analysis to relatively small artworks or requiring multiple acquisition and difficult image-joining for objects larger than detector dimensions.
Results
To overcome the limitations of ordinary CT devices, a facility for the X-ray tomography of large size artefacts has recently been designed and installed in a protected area of the Fondazione Centro Conservazione e Restauro “La Venaria Reale”, a Centre for Preservation and Restoration. This facility, based on a X-ray source, a linear X-ray detector and a high precision mechanical system, has been and will be used to gather information on materials, manufacturing techniques and conservative conditions of artworks undergoing the restoration process.
In this paper the results of the tomography of the first analyzed large artistic object are presented, giving an idea of the wealth of information obtained from the CT scan. The presented artwork is the writing cabinet called “doppio corpo”, a masterpiece of furniture more than 3 m high, inlaid for Savoy Residences by Pietro Piffetti, the most famous cabinet-maker in Piedmont in the XVIII century. The artwork is now housed in the Quirinale Palace, the official residence of the Italian President in Rome.
Conclusions
The CT analysis permitted us to obtain valuable information about the conservative conditions, the presence of previous interventions, the distribution of various materials and the dimensions and arrangement of several wooden pieces, thus allowing for interesting hypotheses about the building technique of this masterpiece.