New X-Ray Digital Radiography and Computed Tomography for Cultural Heritage

X-ray detection systems for high resolution Digital Radiography (DR) and Computed Tomography (CT) have been developed at the Physics Department of the University of Bologna. The research target is the development of systems to be applied in cultural heritage conservation and industrial radiology. In the field of cultural heritage, different kind of objects (ancient necklaces, paintings, bronze or wooden sculptures) have to be inspected in order to acquire significant information as the method used to assemble, the manufacturing techniques or the presence of defects. These features could be very useful, for example, for dating works of art or determining appropriate maintenance and restoration procedures. Among the advanced methods available, 3D CT can be successfully used for the investigation of ancient works of art because it preserves their integrity and provides images of inner parts, otherwise not visible. Several high-resolution CT systems, to investigate objects of different sizes (from micro to macro), have been developed at our Department and will be presented in the seminar. Some experimetal results will be presented too as the micro CT reconstruction of Roman human tooth with carie, the cone beam CT analysis on an Egyptian cat-shaped coffin exhibiting the inner mummy, the CT of an ancient large globe (2 m of diameter) located in Palazzo Vecchio, at Florence, as well as some large painted tables of great artistic interest (i.e. a painting of Raffaello).