Analysis of Micro-fine Mineral Pigments Based on Laser Raman Spectroscopy

Micro-fine pigment minerals have been widely used in artworks, and their particle size, types, etc. determined the quality. Accurate and non-destructive analysis of the composition and distribution of micro-mineral pigments is of great significance. The existing analytical methods include the color analysis, but it is difficult to directly determine the minerals’ type due to the chrominance values. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy disperse spectroscopy have been applied to the identification of mineral components, but these methods faced with the risk of damage for the sample and the complicated process. In this paper, we provided a non-destructive analysis method for micro-fine minerals based on laser Raman spectroscopy. Firstly, 25 types of mineral pigments are tested by 532, 638 and 785nm lasers. Then, different colors and the same color of mineral pigments are tested by Raman imaging, which detected about 1μm minerals in the microregion. This accurate analysis method achieved the composition and distribution of micro-fine mineral pigments, which is suitable for simultaneous analysis of various micro-fine mineral pigments. The BRIEF REPORT is available for this paper at http://www.ykcs.ac.cn/en/article/doi/10.15898/j.ykcs.202403260068.