An attempt is made, using target factor analysis (TFA), to develop simple and practical approach in determining the composition of the salts in efflorescence of the wall paintings, convenient for use in daily work of conservators. The development of the TFA model for determination of qualitative composition of salts deposits on the wall paintings is based on the use of infrared spectra database of substances found in the efflorescence. For this purpose, a total number of twenty infrared spectra of commercially available substances were recorded, setting the database. The target factor analysis was then applied in order to determine the qualitative composition of the salts. The procedure was first tested on different artificial, binary and ternary mixtures of salts, mimicking the efflorescence found in the wall paintings. Since the TFA showed good results on the prepared mixtures, the same procedure was successfully applied in determining the qualitative composition of salt samples collected from two churches in Republic of Macedonia. The obtained results confirmed that the proposed procedure is suitable for these types of analyses.
salt efflorescence; infrared spectroscopy; target factor analysis; qualitative analysis
