On the corrosion and soiling effects on materials by air pollution in Athens, Greece

In the frame of the European project, entitled MULTI-ASSESS, specimens of structural metals, glass, stone and concrete materials were exposed to air pollution at a station, which was installed for this purpose on a building, located in the centre of Athens. The main purpose of this project was to determine the corrosion and soiling effects of air pollution on materials. A set of the specimens was exposed in a position that was sheltered from rain and partly from wind, and another set was exposed in unsheltered positions on the roof of the above said building. In addition, other specimens were exposed at different heights on the same building, in order to investigate for the first time the corrosion and soiling effects on various materials as a function of height. For the determination of these effects, chemical analysis of the specimens was performed and basic parameters as the weight change, the layer thickness and the optical properties were calculated. Finally, the results obtained are discussed and their plausible interpretation is attempted

Cracking of ferritic stainless steel tubes during production process

From the economic reasons many products originally made from austenite stainless steel are nowadays made from ferritic stainless steel. Ferritic steels have relatively low yield strength and the work hardening is limited. They cannot be hardened by heat treatment and only moderately hardened by cold working. Commercially made stainless steel tubes from ferritic steel, used for industrial plumbing was examined on presence of cracks. The cracking was present on the inner side of the convoluted tube shape. The tube manufacturing process consisted of continual bending of the sheet to tube shape, weld the tube, then of cold shaping by pulling through rib-forming frames, which is done in several steps. Then thermal treatment applies to the nearly finished product to remove stress remaining in the structure. Prime suspect was deformation beyond the ductility of used material. However the stress-strain tensile testing does not approved this hypothesis. Several samples of failed material were taken together with reference, and were examined by optical microscopy, and X-Ray Diffraction structure analysis. The structure of the cracked tubes does not show the signs of deformation over the limit, except the location near to the crack itself. Interestingly enough the failed material showed more homogenous structure than the original one. Needle like structures were found when the material is "overetched", on these structures concentration of stress under bending occur. This structure was identified as - ferrite however its presence in -ferrite matrix is unclear

On the corrosion and soiling effects on materials by air pollution in Athens, Greece

In the frame of the European project, entitled MULTI-ASSESS, specimens of structural metals, glass, stone and concrete materials were exposed to air pollution at a station, which was installed for this purpose on a building, located in the centre of Athens. The main purpose of this project was to determine the corrosion and soiling effects of air pollution on materials. A set of the specimens was exposed in a position that was sheltered from rain and partly from wind, and another set was exposed in unsheltered positions on the roof of the above said building. In addition, other specimens were exposed at different heights on the same building, in order to investigate for the first time the corrosion and soiling effects on various materials as a function of height. For the determination of these effects, chemical analysis of the specimens was performed and basic parameters as the weight change, the layer thickness and the optical properties were calculated. Finally, the results obtained are discussed and their plausible interpretation is attempted. © 2011 Author(s)

Effects of air pollution on materials and cultural heritage: ICP materials celebrates 25 years of research

An overview is given of all results from the International Co-operative Programme on Effects on Materials including Historic and Cultural Monuments (ICP Materials), which was launched in 1985. Since then, about twenty different materials have been exposed repeatedly in a network of test sites consisting of more than twenty sites with an extensive environmental characterisation and more than sixty official reports have been issued. Recent results on trends in corrosion, soiling, and pollution show that corrosion of carbon steel, zinc, and limestone is today substantially lower than 25 years ago, but while corrosion of carbon steel has decreased until today, corrosion of zinc and limestone has remained more or less constant since the turn of the century. Unique data are given on measured HNO3 concentrations from 2002-2003, 2005-2006, and 2008-2009, and the relative average decrease was about the same from 2002-2003 to 2005-2006 as it was from 2005-2006 to 2008-2009. © 2012 Johan Tidblad et al

Effects of air pollution on materials and cultural heritage: ICP materials celebrates 25 years of research

An overview is given of all results from the International Co-operative Programme on Effects on Materials including Historic and Cultural Monuments (ICP Materials), which was launched in 1985. Since then, about twenty different materials have been exposed repeatedly in a network of test sites consisting of more than twenty sites with an extensive environmental characterisation and more than sixty official reports have been issued. Recent results on trends in corrosion, soiling, and pollution show that corrosion of carbon steel, zinc, and limestone is today substantially lower than 25 years ago, but while corrosion of carbon steel has decreased until today, corrosion of zinc and limestone has remained more or less constant since the turn of the century. Unique data are given on measured HNO3 concentrations from 2002-2003, 2005-2006, and 2008-2009, and the relative average decrease was about the same from 2002-2003 to 2005-2006 as it was from 2005-2006 to 2008-2009. © 2012 Johan Tidblad et al.Peer Reviewe

An in situ corrosion study of Middle Ages wrought iron bar chains in the Amiens Cathedral

The corrosion behaviour of Middle Ages wrought iron bar chains exposed to indoor atmospheric corrosion for hundred of years in the Notre Dame Cathedral of Amiens (France) has been evaluated by means of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), a well-established electrochemical technique extensively used for testing anticorrosive properties of metal coatings. The measurements have been performed in situ with a portable EIS instrument designed to work as a standalone device, in six different areas of the wrought iron bar chains characterized by different aesthetical appearance. Moreover, a properly designed electrochemical cell has been employed to carry out the impedance measurements without affecting the artefacts surfaces. The wrought iron bar chains, as evidenced by μ-Raman and microscopic analyses, are covered by corrosion products constituted by iron oxides and oxyhydroxides, such as goethite, lepidocrocite, maghemite, akaganeite, organized in complex layered structures. In situ EIS allows one to investigate the phenomena involved at the electrochemical interfaces among the various corrosion products and to assess and predict their corrosion behaviour. From the analysis of the experimental findings of this monitoring campaign, EIS measurements can be proposed to restorers/conservators as a reliable indicator of dangerous situations on which they must act for the preservation of the iron artefact