The K-X-ray intensity ratios as a tool of examination and thickness measurements of coating layers

TL;DR

This study explores the use of K-X-ray intensity ratios obtained through ED-XRF and FLUKA simulations to recognize and measure the thickness of coating layers, particularly silver on copper, in a non-destructive manner suitable for archaeometry.

Contribution

It introduces a method using specific K-X-ray intensity ratios for non-destructive surface coating thickness measurement and recognition, validated through experiments and simulations.

Findings

Intensity ratios strongly depend on coating thickness.

Method effectively distinguishes silver coating thickness on copper.

Applicable as a surface analysis tool in archaeometry.

Abstract

The ED-XRF (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) measurements and the FLUKA simulations have been made to discuss the possibility of recognition of coating layer as well as to its thickness measurement. In this work the $I_{K\alpha}$(Cu)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Ag) intensity ratios as well as $I_{K\beta}$(Ag)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Ag) and $I_{K\beta}$(Cu)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Cu) for copper samples coated with various thickness of sputtered silver have been analyzed. The results show strong dependence of these factors with coating silver layer thickness. The measurements show the performance of this method in archaeometry. Since the use of non-destructive methods during tests on ancient silver artifacts may not supply to obtain reliable bulk results and should be considered applicable for only surface analyses, the measured intensity ratios can be applied as a tool to estimation of surface silver enrichment thickness.