Thermographic Analysis of Cultural Heritage: Recent Applications and Perspectives

Infrared thermography (IRT) has shown to be an important non-destructive method for the investigation of cultural heritage. More specifically, active IRT, monitoring the evolution of emitted infrared radiation at the surface of a sample with time, provides information on the structure of the artefact as well as on the thermal properties of the constituting material. The technique has been applied to the study of library objects, archaeological findings and works of art, enabling detection and characterization of different surface and sub-surface features. In this work, we present some recent applications of active IRT to the structural analysis of historical book bindings and of earthenware, to the detection of manuscript texts buried in the structure of books and to the characterization of repairs and cold workings on historical bronzes. In addition, we present the recent development in 3D thermographic imaging of subsurface features of an artefact by integrating thermography with 3D scanning.