Comparison of brass alloys composition by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and self-organizing maps

In this paper we face the problem of assessing similarities in the composition of different metallic alloys, using the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique. The possibility of determining the degree of similarity through the use of artificial neural networks and self-organizing maps is discussed. As an example, we present a case study involving the comparison of two historical brass samples, very similar in their composition. The results of the paper can be extended to many other situations, not necessarily associatedwith cultural heritage and archeological studies, where objects with similar composition have to be compared.