Tecniche Tomografiche a raggi X per lo studio dei Beni Culturali.

In recent years, X-ray CT has become an important tool for investigating all kinds of materials. Due to its non-destructive nature, it is especially suited to investigate rare or expensive samples. CT has been recently introduced in the field of Cultural Heritage diagnostics, where it can be used for the investigation of different works of art, as it preserves the integrity of the object and gives morphological and physical information on its inner structure. This paper wants to point out a methodological approach on the use of the X-ray CT technique to study items belonging to cultural heritages with the aim to obtain information related to their preservation state and therefore, for determining adequate maintenance and restoration procedures. Important applications are for example the study of porosity and of pore size distribution and connectivity of different porous materials and the study of the kinetics of capillary fluid absorption in sedimentary rocks. Other applications are relevant to the possibility to investigate in a non invasive way the presence of defects or fractures inside an object and not last in order of importance, the possibility to study different typologies of woods or waterlogged woods and the presence of microbial deterioration. In this paper are reported the results of some case studies, obtained through the combined use of CT systems with different resolutions. Other expected future developments will be addressed to the integration of CT data with results of compatible non-destructive techniques.