Feasibility study for the advanced characterization of musical string wires

In chordophone musical instruments, each note played is the result of the vibration of a string or a series of two or more strings at a defined frequency, determined by the length, diameter, tension and density of the metal wire involved, as it is specific elastic element. The durability and performance of musical strings depend on numerous factors, including the quality of the constitutive materials, the production process and specific treatments. With the aim of enhancing the characteristics of these strings and avoiding problems such as corrosive phenomena or breakage events of the musical strings during the concert, the industry of the sector dedicates considerable attention to the analysis of possible technological methods capable of giving the same threads high qualitative and functional properties. This article, after a brief introduction on musical instrument strings and their inherent problems, concerns their possible advanced nano(micro)-characterization by neutron diffraction and small-angle neutron scattering. These techniques allow, in particular, to determine the residual strain and stresses and the crystallographic texture, and to identify and study important nano(micro)-defects such as matrix heterogeneity, porosity, gas bubbles and precipitates, among the main factors responsible for the wire's performances: thereby proving to be indispensable to completely study the structure and the effect of the constitutive materials' characteristics on the parameters of the acoustic properties.