J.CAC VOLUME 31 (2006)
Chlorine Determination in Archeological Wrought Iron by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis
One of the challenges in treating chloride-contaminated archaeological iron is determining the effectiveness of conservation treatments. Evaluation of different treatments is possible if it can be determined what fraction of chloride ions is removed by a particular treatment. In this paper, preliminary results are presented of the measurement of the chlorine concentration in small wrought iron artifacts before and after treatment using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). These results are compared to the chloride ion concentrations in the treatment solutions as determined by potentiometric titration. The conservation treatments are based on immersion of the iron samples for 18 weeks in alkaline solutions of either ethylenediamine (5% v/v and 20% v/v) or sodium hydroxide (2% w/v and 0.01% w/v) at 22°C and 50°C. These results illustrate the potential usefulness and limitations of INAA as a non-destructive analytical tool for determining chlorine concentration in small iron artifacts or samples.
Download: JCAC31 Selwyn & Argyropoulos