Our colleague and senior researcher, PhD Carolina Cardell, from the University of Granada, assisted the TechnoHeritage2024 conference where she presented a poster entitled “Microchemical study of cinnabar and malachite-based tempera irradiated with an active fiber laser”. This study was carried out in collaboration with our colleagues from the Centro per la Conservazione ed il Restauro dei Beni Culturali “La Venaria Reale” (CCR) from Turin, Italy. The tempera paint mock-ups were irradiated by laser specialist Francesca Zenucchini.
The results that Carolina presented were carried out between the scientific laboratories of the CCR, by PhD Chiara Ricci, PhD Federica Pozzi and PhD Anna Piccirillo, by the University of Granada and by the University of Vigo.
The interest of this study lies in the use of an innovative laser that has not been widely evaluated in comparison to other conventional lasers used in the cultural heritage field, such as Nd:YAG or Er:YAG, also evaluated within the LaseringPH project. Results bear significant implications in the optimization of laser cleaning practices adopted in the conservation field and allowed us to shed light on the blackening phenomena caused by laser irradiation.
Acknowledgements: This study is part of the PID2021-123395OA-I00 research project funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by “ERDF A way of making Europe” and, by the Xunta de Galicia ED431F 2022/07 project.