The DiscoveryMat software perdict the chemical composition of currently metallic alloys. The proposed system is:

Its mobility allows you to bring it everywhere with you, to the work site ! You do not necessarily have to disassemble the part to be analyzed. One of the main field of application is conservation and restoration.

The idea is to deposit water on the surface of the material whose alloy we are trying to estimate. A slight corrosion sets in over time. The induced electric field is measured over time. A time series of 15 minutes is required, with intervals of 1 second between current measurements.

An artificial intelligence algorithm then predicts the composition of the alloy. This prediction is based among other things on a labeled dataset, constituted of around 123 materials with different compositions. To improve the efficiency of the method, we use not one, not three time series. Each of them represents the electric field induced by corrosion in contact with:

The innovative approach proposed by DiscoveryMat has been thoroughly validated on a watch collection from the famous International Horology Museum of La Chaux-de-Fonds (MIH) in Switzerland. To estimate the quality of the predictions of the DiscoveryMat approach, an X-Ray fluorescence was used to establish the composition of the alloy.

More precisely, the analytical tool has been tested on a collection of historic objects from the International Museum of Horology, La Chaux-de-Fonds, CH. We have checked the portability of the measuring instrument and its almost non invasive character (the polishing of the metal is limited since the metal is only slightly oxidised). The copper alloys materials being specific to this horological domain not yet covered by the existing database, the tool could only give proposals of compositions. In the case where the metal analysed had a composition close to a material of the database, the algorithm of comparison / classification gave a good matching. In the other cases, the elements present in the metal were given as well as approximate compositions. The precise elementary analysis of these materials with X-Ray fluorescence enabled us to insert these new materials in our database to enrich it. Currently the database contains 123 materials with known composition and electrochemical behaviour.

Live shoot

Figure : In-situ measurement in the exhibition area of the MIH on a 17th century tower clock of the museum collection:

The multimeter measures potential differences between the metal tested (unknown composition) and a measuring system constituted of a Ag-AgCl reference electrode (RE) inserted in a junction protection tube (JPT).The automatic collection of data requires the use of a volmetre usb-connected to DiscoveryMat software . The quality of the measures depends on the surface preparation of the metal studied. These measures should be performed on a metallic surface. Therefore the metal should be cleaned of any oxide layer.

The DiscoveryMat software allows you to benefit from the entire pipeline for alloy prediction. It's provided free of charge.