"De re metallica" (G. Agricola) - IBA on air

On the occasion of Georgius Agricola's 500th birthday in 1994 attention has been focused on the paint material found in an exemplar of his famous scientific book “De re metallica”. The very thin color coatings on the highly sensitive paper substrate represent a challenge to the power and the guaranteed non-destructiveness of IBA. The combined implementation of PIXE and RBS on the external proton beam set-up allows one to determine the chemical elements of the pigments used and to identify the presence of organic layers. Results from selected colors are given to emphasize the complementary character of on-air PIXE-RBS analysis.