Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry with primary ions in the MeV range (MeV-SIMS) is employed as a new accelerator technique for the analysis of synthetic organic pigments (SOPs) and binders in modern paints. In the frame of broader project, the capability of the MeV-SIMS was tested on unaged and artificially aged tube paints as well as on samples from outdoor sculptures (naturally aged). This method offers many advantages over well-established mass spectrometry and spectroscopic methods used in this field1, e.g. information on molecular level is obtained with no sample preparation prior to analysis, identification of SOPs and binder is done in the same mass spectrum, and further, sample is not consumed during measurement, thus still remaining for complementary measurements. Another benefit of the MeV-SIMS is that we deal with a surface sensitive method capable for organic materials which is important concerning that material degradation occurs in the uppermost layers and this area is usually not accessed by chromatographic methods coupled to MS. The MeV primary ion beam causes a so-called “soft ionization” of organic molecules, which means that large intact organic molecules or larger molecular fragments are desorbed from the outermost surface of the sample. Thus, MeV-SIMS spectra contain molecular peaks of the SOPs and only low number of larger molecular fragments which can be easily used for their identification. For investigations, the 5 MeV Si4+ primary ion beam from 1 MV Tandetron2 at Rudjer Bosković Institute, Croatia was used. Secondary ions were detected with ToF-SIMS. Results show that synthetic organic blue, green, yellow, and red pigments belonging to different pigment classes are easily identified through their MeV-SIMS mass spectra in alkyd and acrylic paints (unaged, artificially aged, real samples). First results showing molecular imaging performed on thin sections of aged samples will also be presented and discussed. 1M. P. Colombini, F. Modugno (eds): Organic Mass Spectrometry in Art and Archaeology, Wiley 2009. 2T. Tadic, I, Bogdanovic Radovic Z. Siketic, D.D. Cosic, N. Skukan, M. Jaksic, J. Matsuo, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 332, 2014, 234-237.

MeV-ToF-SIMS: A novel method for the analysis of modern and contemporary art paints

251st National Meeting (2016)

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