Non-destructive characterization of pigments by means of the complementary use of PIXE-alpha and XRD portable systems

The portable PIXE system (PIXE-alpha) realised by INFN-CNR has been employed for the analysis of pigments present in some Roman frescoes. The PIXE data have been used to select between the possible mineralogical phases of interest present in the XRD spectrum of a portable, low resolution, diffractometer. As results of both analytical methods a complete pigments characterisation has been obtained.