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Investigating a Moche Cast Copper Artifact for Its Manufacturing Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2014

Aaron Shugar ,
Michael Notis ,
Dale Newbury  and
Nicholas Ritchie
Aaron Shugar
Affiliation:
Art Conservation Department, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Michael Notis
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
Dale Newbury
Affiliation:
Materials Measurement Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Nicholas Ritchie
Affiliation:
Microanalysis Research Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
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Abstract

A Moche cast copper alloy object was investigated with focus on three main areas: the alloy composition, the casting technology, and the corrosion process. This complex artifact has thin connective arms between the body and the head, a situation that would be very difficult to cast. The entire artifact was mounted and polished allowing for complete microstructural and microchemical analysis, providing insight into the forming technology. In addition, gigapixel x-ray spectrum imaging was undertaken to explore the alloy composition and the solidification process of the entire sample. This process used four 30 mm2 SDD-EDS detectors to collect the 150 gigabyte file mapping an area of 46 080 × 39 934 pixels. Raman analysis was performed to confirm the corrosion compounds.

Keywords

artarchaeologyscanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1656: Symposium PP – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology X , 2014 , pp. 95 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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