Elemental analysis of silver coins by PIXE technique

B B Tripathy; Tapash R Rautray; A C Rautray; V Vijayan

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2009.12.031

Elemental analysis of silver coins by PIXE technique

Appl Radiat Isot. 2010 Mar;68(3):454-8. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2009.12.031. Epub 2009 Dec 22.

Authors

B B Tripathy¹, Tapash R Rautray, A C Rautray, V Vijayan

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, Silicon Institute of Technology, Patia, Bhubaneswar, India.

PMID: 20053568
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2009.12.031

Abstract

Elemental analysis of nine Indian silver coins during British rule was carried out by proton induced X-ray emission spectroscopy. Eight elements, namely Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, and Pb were determined in the present study. Ag and Cu were found to be the major elements, Zn was the only minor element and all other elements are present at the trace level. The variation of the elemental concentration may be due to the use of different ores for making coins.