In situ investigation of synchrotron radiation damage effect of ancient paintings by time-resolved ED-XAS and IR combined techniques

Advanced synchrotron radiation light is a powerful tool for archaeometry research. However, its applications to precious cultural relics, especially for color painting, have been hindered to some degree due to potential X-ray radiation damage. Compared to inorganic mineral pigments, organic binders in the painting are easier to be damaged by synchrotron radiation X-ray beam. The radiation damage effect of two typical painting samples, pure rabbit skin glue and the mixed sample of rabbit skin glue and zinc white, has been investigated by in situ time-resolved ED-XAS and IR combined techniques. The results show that the radiation damage effect of pure rabbit skin glue is more serious at low X-ray energy (7775 eV). The radiation damage effect of the mixed sample increases significantly due to more X-ray absorption by inorganic pigments. Furthermore, the radiation damage is more serious at the energy near Zn K-edge and is somewhat slight at higher energy (13,054 eV). These damages are more obvious from the point of view of protein secondary structures. The irradiation damage effects increase more rapidly at the beginning and are not linear with the irradiating time. The results indicate that synchrotron radiation damage can be reduced effectively by using X-ray energy far away from the X-ray absorption edge of the major element in the pigments during XRF, XRD and CT experiments, or by using time-resolved techniques such as QXAFS and ED-XAS during XAFS experiments.