Open ablation cell for LA-ICP-MS investigations of historic objects

Abstract

Laser ablation (LA) of historic objects (glass and ceramic) as well as reference materials (NIST610 and SRM679) was executed in standard closed or home made open ablation cells of different intrinsic volume (c.a. 60 cm 3 and 9 cm 3 or 4.5 cm 3 respectively). Comparative investigations with different ablation cells were carried out with argon as the carrier gas and registration of transient signals during the subsequent multielemental analysis by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Open cells allowed direct ablation from surface of historic objects and demonstrated suitability for mapping and quantitative elemental analysis. Resolution of created maps showing distribution of selected elements was improved by using open cells for which the rinse out time of aerosol was noticeably shortened (by a factor of 3) compared to the standard cell. The accuracy of quantitative elemental results obtained for ceramic objects was tested using SRM679 Brick Clay in the form of pressed pellet and was found to be satisfactory. It was demonstrated that the applicability of LA-ICP-MS in archaeometry as well as conservation science could be enhanced by popularization of open cells for the direct ablation from objects, which are too big to fit to standard cells and require strict limitation of sampling.

Aerosol entrainment and a large-capacity gas exchange device (Q-GED) for laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in atmospheric pressure air

“…Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) is an established technique for the quantitative analysis of major, trace, and ultra-trace element content of solid materials. Accurate determinations of elements and isotopes are a prerequisite for studies dealing with provenance, 1 depth proling, 2 and mapping of geological, 3,4 archeological 5,6 and biological materials. 7 Recently, the analysis of stalagmites has gained interest as the natural slow growth carbonates record annual changes in local trace element geochemistry.…”

“…Sampling strategies that do not require enclosing the sample in a restricted volume of ablation cells have the potential to overcome this limitation. One strategy was based on an open cell design, 5,15 which achieved the sealing of the ablation chamber using modelling plasticine. However, modelling plasticine cannot always be totally removed from the sample surface, and therefore, the surface can remain contaminated aer analysis.…”

“…Alternatively, a modied open-cell approach was published that allows scanning across the sample surface in a narrow region. 5 A quasi-closed cell design using a gas curtain 16,17 was reported, and it was speculated that a nonperfectly tting sample to cell geometry might contribute to decreased signal stability and slower washout than those obtained when using large and at samples. However, alteration of the sample surface to perfect atness by polishing or cutting is not viable for some archaeological and geological samples.…”

The sixteenth century panel Virgin with the Child and an Angel, confluences of material characterization and iconography

“…Concerned by this limitation, few approaches have been developed recently mainly focused on the design of prototypes with open cells that could be placed on the object surface [6][7][8]. However, most of these application tests have been performed on metallic, ceramic or glass artwork but in practice, studies about its application to the analysis of paintings are not available [5][6][7][9][10][11][12][13].…”

LA-ICP-MS analysis of corroded glass beads from Southern China: tackling highly inhomogeneous archaeological glass

“…Like many other types of instrumentation, the experimental protocols, analytic procedures and calibration methods of LA-ICP-MS are mainly designed for and utilized by geo-scientists. Therefore, many archaeological scientists have also worked on improving technical compatibility of LA-ICP-MS with archaeological glass samples, striving to expand or enhance possible schemes and applications, including novel ablation cell design (Wagner and Jędral 2011), comparison between different laboratory setups (Dussubieux, Robertshaw, and Glascock 2009;, evaluation of instrumental parameters and quantitative approach (Bertini et al 2013), calibration technique (van Elteren, Tennent, and Šelih 2009), and depth profiling and 3D mapping van Elteren et al 2013). Although some of these works have discussed corroded samples, the advantages of LA-ICP-MS for inhomogeneous archaeological glass have not yet been fully exploited.…”