Study of the influence of surface roughness in the PIXE analysis of pottery

The PIXE analysis of pottery is possible by operating in air with basically no limits on the size and share of the goods. The analysis of the clay bod y in valuable goods of archaeological and historical value is. however. lim ited to exposures along pre-existent rough fractures whose surface could al ter the transmission of X-rays to the detectors and create artefacts. We ha ve studied the effect on a homogeneous metal slab where grooves of differen t shape and depth have been milled and compared the data with a Monte Carlo (MC) calculation fur our typical set-up and with data on a few potsherds f rom archaeological excavations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r eserved.