Nowadays many highly sophisticated analytical techniques are applied to answer major questions in the field of art, cultural heritage and archaeology. As metals such as gold, silver, copper or iron and their alloys have played a key role in the course of civilization it is a major concern of our society to protect these culturally valuable objects. As many macroscopic long-term investigations on metal degradation have been devoted in the past, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning the exact chemical reactions which occur on the surface. For this reason it is of special interest to study degradation mechanisms in-situ and in a time-resolved way in order to develop strategies to reduce or even prevent those atmospheric surface attacks.<br/>This work explores the potential of new set-ups and combinations of analytical methods to perform time-lapse degradation studies of silver and silver/copper alloys (sterling silver) while exposed to different corrosive atmospheres. In order to obtain information concerning the chemical reactions and the species formed on the surfaces, time-lapse in-situ InfraRed Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS), Raman spectroscopy, Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Diffraction (SR-XRD), and Scanning Kelvin Probe (SKP) are applied. A Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) set-up is used for gravimetric information of changing chemistry on the sample surface and bulk. Furthermore, Focused Ion Beam - Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) experiments accomplish the investigations to specify the three dimensional distribution of the compounds in the formed corrosion layer and the outermost surface domains of the material itself. Besides identifying the exact reaction mechanisms on the surface also synergistic effects of different atmospheric parameters could be observed.

Potential of time-lapse measurements in metal degradation studies and the benefit for cultural heritage conservation

251st National Meeting (2016)

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