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Short bio
Lea Legan Lea Legan, MSc in Chemistry, is a specialist in spectroscopic methods (infrared, Raman spectroscopy) for cultural heritage materials characterisation and preservation at the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. Her main research focuses on the application of non-invasive FTIR spectroscopy for the investigation of the material composition, ageing processes, cleaning treatments and other effects of conservation procedures on cultural heritage objects. She is an author of several scientific papers in highly ranked international journals.
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ABSTRACT
Application of different FTIR spectroscopic techniques in heritage science research
Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is one of the most common and powerful analytical techniques for the characterisation of organic and in some cases inorganic materials in the field of heritage science. Material heterogeneity, integrity and conservation challenges of each cultural heritage asset require a unique analytical approach in research diagnostic. Conventional FTIR techniques (transmission, ATR) require sample preparation and lengthy measurements, while non-invasive (reflection) and/or minimally invasive (μ-transflection) techniques are super-fast but have most often challenging data interpretation, whereas micro-IR mapping/imaging allows in-depth composition study of layers in cross-sections. FTIR techniques, therefore, allow the investigation of surface finishes, binders, pigments, detection of degradation products in ageing processes, as well as monitoring of cleaning treatments, mould growth, etc.
In this research, different analytical approaches (invasive, minimally invasive, and non-invasive) of vibrational spectroscopy will be presented based on results collected from selected cultural heritage objects and archaeological remains from Slovenia. A combination of different applications of FTIR techniques will be shown on the individual artwork in order to gain the most credible results of cultural heritage materials characterisation and to illustrate the capabilities of infrared spectroscopy in the field of heritage science.