Historical buildings are prone to deterioration due to various reasons including environmental conditions, humidity and structural failures. The main factors of their degradation are moisture and salt activity. Salt weathering affects the appearance of the monuments but also causes chemical and mechanical degradation. The effect of salts in building deterioration is well-known, with several laboratory-based studies focusing on understanding the formation mechanisms. Here, we introduce a new methodology for the non-invasive monitoring and identification of moisture and salts following a complementary remote sensing approach. The study is based on ground-based remote short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging and remote Raman spectroscopy from standoff distances of 3 to 15m [1]. The remote SWIR spectral imaging system covers the spectral range between 1 and 2.5 μm, with a spectral resolution of 5.5 nm and spatial resolution of 150 μm at a distance of 3m. The in-house developed mobile standoff Raman system operates with a continuous-wave (CW) excitation laser source at 780 nm. The laser beam can be focused at different distances resulting in a spot size of ~1 mm on the target. In our approach, SWIR imaging is used for scanning large wall surfaces. The post-processing of the acquired spectral imaging data using our novel machine learning-based clustering methods highlights the material variations across the wall. The detailed examination of the mean SWIR spectra for each cluster, allows a primary identification of moisture and salts, indicating also variations in volume concentration. The salts identification is then confirmed by remote Raman spectroscopy. The new method is presented through the examination of the historical building in Fort Brockhurst, an English Heritage monument in Portsmouth, UK.
Studies of wall paintings require in situ ground based remote sensing evaluation. With its ablative nature, LIBS enables remote depth-resolved analysis. Combined with other remote technique s such as Raman and LIF, remote depth-resolved multi-modal analysis is made possible. Here we present a mobile standoff LIBS-Raman system with co-axial design. Other remote methods such as spectral imaging and LIF could also be incorporated, providing complementary information. Applications of standoff depth-resolved multi-modal material identification of wall paintings are demonstrated both in the lab and in situ for the first time, which helps better understand the painting schemes, and therefore inform decision-making for future conservation campaigns.
This study sets out to analyse the artistic materials used in the maritime Southeast Asian manuscript collection at the British Library. To gain a full understanding of how artistic practises may have developed over time and changed between regions, it is necessary to perform large scale scientific analysis. Visible/NIR spectral imaging is an efficient method of collecting spectral reflectance data which can be used to distinguish different materials. Recent advancements in automatic data collection have meant that the volume of data collected has greatly increased, making traditional approaches to data analysis impossible to perform in a timely manner. Machine learning provides a viable solution to this as it can be used to automatically cluster millions of spectra into smaller, more manageable numbers of distinct spectral groups. Self-organising Maps are used as the building blocks of an algorithm which can perform clustering of large collections of spectral imaging data. Spectral reflectance alone is often not enough to perform pigment identification, consequently other complementary techniques are required. Advances in spectral imaging mean that each of these complementary techniques has a corresponding imaging modality. The machine learning approach developed in this project can be adapted to allow for the clustering of multimodal spectral imaging data including VIS/NIR hyperspectral imaging, macro-X-Ray fluorescence mapping, macro-Raman mapping, and Fourier transform infrared mapping. For multimodal clustering, each modality can be clustered individually and then brought together to produce a single cluster map which is a more refined representation of the material distribution than that produced from any individual spectral imaging modality. A visualisation tool has also been developed for the easy interpretation and interrogation of spectral imaging data cubes and cluster maps for entire collections. Both the visualisation tool and clustering method will be made accessible to the cultural heritage community through an online DIGILAB platform.
Increased availability and use of ‘non-invasive’ analytical techniques in recent years, have called into question traditional assumptions of non-invasiveness of laser-based techniques and latest research developments have shown that it is essential to assess the extent of it for Raman spectroscopy, as particular compounds such as pigments may be highly altered/damaged upon laser radiation even at low laser intensity. In the present research, damage processes of oil paintings with historical pigments under CW lasers, with different excitation wavelength, laser intensity and fluence, are investigated with a monitoring set-up combining Raman spectroscopy, VIS-NIR reflectance spectroscopy and IR thermography.
The complementary use of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping, spectral imaging, and Raman mapping, allows for the analysis and identification of important artistic materials used in the production and illustration of illuminated manuscripts. This project uses combined non-invasive imaging techniques to analyse 17th – 19th century manuscripts from the British Library’s Southeast Asia Collections so that more can be understood about the adoption and evolution of artistic materials and techniques used in Maritime Southeast Asia. Using multiple different imaging techniques has shown to provide positive results, however, a consequence of this is the collection of large amounts of data, necessitating the automatic and unsupervised analytical techniques used in machine learning. Data collected in-situ at the British Library using macro-XRF mapping, macro-Raman mapping, and Spectral Imaging, will be analysed using a range of machine learning techniques to cluster pixel information representing materials used in southeast Asian manuscripts.
Material analysis is important to the study of architectural interiors and wall paintings in order to inform the research in history and to monitor the state of conservation. Multimodal spectral analysis is increasingly used in mobile lab campaigns conducted in situ at historical sites. Some challenges specific to the investigation of immovable cultural heritage arise from the inaccessible heights and remoteness of the sites. Therefore, complementary spectroscopic techniques that can be conducted from the ground at a large distance (> 3 m) are required.
The Imaging and Sensing for Archaeology, Art history and Conservation (ISAAC) Mobile Lab routinely employs remote spectral imaging to record the spectral reflectance in the visible and near infrared of wall paintings at high spatial resolution per pixel. Raman spectroscopy identifies molecular structural fingerprints by observing the spectral shift from the excitation laser wavelength resulting from molecular vibrations. A by-product of Raman spectroscopy is laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF). Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) detects characteristic lines for different elements from the plasma created by high power laser pulses. The combination of Raman, LIF, LIBS and spectral reflectance can provide complementary material information about the artworks: molecular structure and elemental composition. Assisted with a computer-controlled telescope mount, small area remote spectroscopic mapping (2D scanning) with Raman and LIF is also achieved to complement long range remote visible and near infrared spectral imaging.
In this work, we present the developments of a combined long range mobile remote spectroscopy system for working in the range from 3m to 15m, and its recent applications in remote material identifications on wall paintings.
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