Metallurgical and chemical characterization of copper alloy reference materials within laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: Method development for minimally-invasive analysis of ancient bronze objects

The chemical composition of ancient metal objects provides important information for manufacturing studies and authenticity verification of ancient copper or bronze artifacts. Non- or minimal-destructive analytical methods are preferred to mitigate visible damage. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) enables the determination of major elements as well as impurities down to lower ppm-levels, however, accuracy and precision of analysis strongly depend on the homogeneity of reference materials used for calibration. Moreover, appropriate analytical procedures are required e.g. in terms of ablation strategies (scan mode, spot size, etc.). This study reviews available copper alloy (certified) reference materials — (C)RMs from different sources and contributes new metallurgical data on homogeneity and spatial elemental distribution. Investigations of the standards were performed by optical and scanning electron microscopy with X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX) for the following copper alloy and bronze (certified) reference materials: NIST 454, BAM 374, BAM 211, BAM 227, BAM 374, BAM 378, BAS 50.01-2, BAS 50.03-4, and BAS 50.04-4. Additionally, the influence of inhomogeneities on different ablation and calibration strategies is evaluated to define an optimum analytical strategy in terms of line scan versus single spot ablation, variation of spot size, selection of the most appropriate RMs or minimum number of calibration reference materials.

► New metallographic data for copper alloy reference materials are provided. ► Influence of RMs homogeneity on quality of LA-ICPMS analysis was evaluated. ► Ablation and calibration strategies were critically discussed. ► An LA-ICPMS method is proposed for analyzing most typical ancient copper alloys