WP4 – NON-INVASIVE MULTIMODAL APPROACH to obtain compositional data

In this WP a non-invasive multimodal approach on reference (aged and treated) materials will be optimized to obtain compositional information starting from a systematic study on the reference samples with known composition previously investigated in WP3. 

This will enable us to maximize the strength of the NI approach and will allow us to outline potential limitations of the NI approach in the identification and quantification of specific types of plastics.
In detail: 

• Single-point techniques and hyperspectral imaging to probe the elemental and the molecular properties of the materials exploring the broad range which goes from X-ray to mid-IR including the UV-Vis-NIR and SWIR. The multimodal broad-range approach will enable to details of the chemical composition and its distribution (monomers, pigments, additives and compositional changes due to degradation and or restoration intervention).  
• Not only the reflection properties will be probed but also the material emission behaviour by time-resolved and spectrally-resolved fluorescence imaging to detect the presence of additives and plasticizers and assess their spatial distribution on the surface of plastic reference samples. 
• More innovative chemical probing will be also tested, such as  
• Micro-scale spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (Micro-SORS) to investigate the chemical composition of reference plastic samples at both their surface and sub-surface. 
• A new solution based on IR spectroscopy for the in situ identification of VOCs will be also evaluated.