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Heritage
Special Issues
Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts
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Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts

A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 9682

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vasilike Argyropoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, University of West Attica, Aigaleo, Greece
Interests: metals cultural heritage; corrosion; treatments; corrosion inhibitors; coatings; green methods; marine conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maria Giannoulaki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, University of West Attica, Aigaleo, Greece
Interests: archaeological metals conservation; NDT analytical techniques; ancient technology; marine conservation; metals protection
Dr. Elodie Guilminot

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departement Loire Atlantique, Grand Patrimoine, Arc’Antique Lab, 44300 Nantes, France
Interests: conservation–restoration; metal/corrosion; electrochemistry; gels

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The last decade has seen extensive research focus on implementation of a number of spectroscopic, electrochemical and imaging techniques, green materials and technologies, digital tools and methods for the conservation and restoration of metal artifacts. Both terrestrial and marine metal artifacts are complicated to understand their original metal alloy composition, corrosion layers, and stability after excavation or treatment.  Routine practices and materials used for the storage, treatment, protection, display, and transport of these artifacts are today deemed either as not safe or with a great impact on the environment. There is a concerted effort by conservation professionals to understand the carbon footprint of the materials they use in their practices so as to help make better choices to reduce their impact on the environment.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights about these new applications with the aim to better understand the alloy compositions and corrosion matrix of metal artifacts from different environments, new materials or technologies for the remedial conservation of metal artifacts, new materials or methods for storage, display, or transport of metal artifacts, in situ conservation of metal artifacts.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

  1. Museum environment and climate for metal artifacts;
  2. Green materials and technologies for conservation and restoration of metal artifacts;
  3. Non-invasive portable analytical techniques for in situ analysis and diagnosis of metal alloys and surfaces, as well as the monitoring of metals artifacts in their surrounding environment;
  4. In situ conservation of metal artifacts;
  5. Characterization studies of metal artifacts including corrosion matrix.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Vasilike Argyropoulos
Dr. Maria Giannoulaki
Dr. Elodie Guilminot
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metal artifacts
  • green materials and technologies
  • noninvasive portable analytical techniques
  • museum environment
  • in situ conservation
  • material characterization

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5958 KiB  
Article
Duralumin Alloys in World War II Heritage Aircraft: Correlations Between Manufacturing Parameters and Alloys’ Properties
by Agathe Duclos, Elena Bernardi, Luc Robbiola, Christophe Deshayes, Luiza de Souza Machado, Carla Martini, Cristina Chiavari, Andrea Balbo, Cesar Escobar, Elodie Guilminot, Benoît Malard and Magali Brunet
Heritage 2024, 7(12), 6772-6790; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7120313 - 28 Nov 2024
Viewed by 464
Abstract
Duralumin-type alloys have been employed for structural and non-structural parts of aircraft since the early 1920s up to now. In the European project “PROtection and Conservation of Heritage AirCRAFT” (PROCRAFT), up to 34 aircraft wrecks from World War II from different nations (United [...] Read more.
Duralumin-type alloys have been employed for structural and non-structural parts of aircraft since the early 1920s up to now. In the European project “PROtection and Conservation of Heritage AirCRAFT” (PROCRAFT), up to 34 aircraft wrecks from World War II from different nations (United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy) were identified. On most of them, the collection of numerous fragments was possible, thus constituting a large sampling group. A metallographic analysis was carried out, and elemental composition, microstructure and hardness were measured. This article focuses firstly on the elemental composition of this group of historical Al alloys. From these data, some fine characteristics specific to the manufacturing countries will be investigated through principal component analysis. Then, on a restricted group constituted of German alloys, we will discuss how some manufacturing parameters, such as micro-alloying and thermo-mechanical treatments, influence the mechanical properties of the assessed aircraft components. Other influencing parameters, linked to the archaeological nature of the parts, are considered and addressed based on a specific study of an alloy collected on a crashed JU88 aircraft originating from the German company Junkers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts)
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15 pages, 4328 KiB  
Article
Contribution of EBSD for the Microstructural Study of Archaeological Iron Alloy Artefacts from the Archaeological Site of Loiola (Biscay, Northern Spain)
by Céline Rémazeilles, Maria Cruz Zuluaga, Haizea Portillo-Blanco, Egle Conforto, Abdelali Oudriss, Luis Àngel Ortega, Ainhoa Alonso-Olazabal and Juan José Cepeda-Ocampo
Heritage 2024, 7(6), 3179-3193; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7060150 - 10 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1085
Abstract
Iron palaeometallurgy was carried out on three artefacts, classified as nails and excavated from the archaeological site of Loiola (La Arboleda, Biscay, northern Spain), to investigate Roman manufacturing techniques. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) coupled with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy [...] Read more.
Iron palaeometallurgy was carried out on three artefacts, classified as nails and excavated from the archaeological site of Loiola (La Arboleda, Biscay, northern Spain), to investigate Roman manufacturing techniques. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) coupled with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used to obtain elemental composition and structural characterization of mineral phases. Metallurgical properties and crystallographic texture were studied by combining microscopic methods such as optical microscopy (OM), Electron Backscatter Diffraction realized in environmental mode (EBSD) and measurements of local Vickers microhardness. The three artefacts had different microstructures, distinguished by a large gradient of carbon content, although important segregations (inclusions) were observed in all of them. Two pearlite-rich artefacts showed a high density of structural defects (geometrically necessary dislocations and large crystallographic orientation gradients in pearlitic ferrite, curved pearlitic cementite) resulting from a high level of plastic deformation that occurred during the manufacturing process. The third artefact consisted of pure ferrite without structural defects. This one was clearly manufactured differently from the two others, so it probably had another functionality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts)
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27 pages, 9781 KiB  
Article
The Cleaning of Corroded Lacquered Brass with Complexing Agents: A Comparative Study
by Julie Schröter, Miriam Truffa Giachet, Luana Cuvillier, Edith Joseph and Laura Brambilla
Heritage 2024, 7(6), 3135-3161; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7060148 - 7 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1396
Abstract
Lacquered brass objects are widely present in scientific and technical heritage collections. Localized atmospheric corrosion occurs on the metal when the coating fails to play its protective role. Although lacquered brass objects are not necessarily endangered by this phenomenon, the presence of dark, [...] Read more.
Lacquered brass objects are widely present in scientific and technical heritage collections. Localized atmospheric corrosion occurs on the metal when the coating fails to play its protective role. Although lacquered brass objects are not necessarily endangered by this phenomenon, the presence of dark, unpleasant corrosion spots alters the surface appearance, affecting the readability of the objects. Conservators are therefore frequently asked to clean these surfaces. We hereby present the results of a study conducted in the framework of the CleanLaB (Cleaning of Lacquered Brass) project at the Haute Ecole Arc of Neuchâtel for the cleaning of lacquered brass. This work investigates the effects of several gelled cleaning systems applied on artificially aged, lacquered brass samples to remove the corrosion products without affecting the integrity of the coating. The performance of complexing agents commonly used in conservation was compared on lacquered brass mock-ups coated with shellac resin by means of multiple non-invasive characterization and imaging techniques. The tests included conventional complexing agents like sodium citrate and disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, as well as a bio-originated system based on deferoxamine, a microbial metal chelator investigated as a green alternative in cleaning formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts)
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14 pages, 3912 KiB  
Article
Experimental Study of Chalconatronite: From Its Identification to the Treatment of Copper Alloy Objects
by Charlène Pelé-Meziani, Aymeric Raimon, Jean-Yves Mevellec and Elodie Guilminot
Heritage 2024, 7(6), 2866-2879; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7060135 - 1 Jun 2024
Viewed by 3464
Abstract
On the occasion of the reopening of the Dobrée Museum (Nantes, France), two statuettes of Egyptian origin, representing Harpocrate and Isis, were studied to shed light on the presence of the blue-green efflorescence on their surface. The efflorescence on the Harpocrate statuette was [...] Read more.
On the occasion of the reopening of the Dobrée Museum (Nantes, France), two statuettes of Egyptian origin, representing Harpocrate and Isis, were studied to shed light on the presence of the blue-green efflorescence on their surface. The efflorescence on the Harpocrate statuette was identified as being chalconatronite, while that which was present on the Isis statuette corresponded to sodium copper formate/acetate, probably due to the evolution of chalconatronite in an environment containing VOCs. The efflorescence appeared to be sensitive to the cyclic variation in relative humidity whereas it seemed stable. An experimental curative treatment to halt the reappearance was carried out. A series of pure water baths extracted a significant quantity of sodium. The treatment appeared effective and reduced the risk of a recrudescence of the efflorescence for both statuettes. However, when the efflorescence was dissolved on the Isis statuette, other compounds appeared to react with water, leading to acidification and a potential reaction with the lead in the alloy. A layer of lead carbonate/acetate on the surface appeared. The objects were then dried and protected with a highly concentrated acrylic varnish. They are currently being monitored to identify any new efflorescence that may appear during display. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts)
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14 pages, 6863 KiB  
Article
Metal Fragments of Roman Pipes from Pompeii: Investigations on Copper-Based Alloys, Corrosion Products, and Surface Treatments
by Sofia Schiattone, Carla Martini, Marco Malagodi, Giacomo Fiocco, Eleonora Rocconi, Maria Morisco and Cristina Chiavari
Heritage 2024, 7(5), 2538-2551; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7050121 - 14 May 2024
Viewed by 1266
Abstract
This work reports the study of metal fragments from Roman pipes excavated from the archaeological site of Pompeii and currently preserved in the deposits of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN). The Roman pipe, called the tibia, is a reed wind [...] Read more.
This work reports the study of metal fragments from Roman pipes excavated from the archaeological site of Pompeii and currently preserved in the deposits of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN). The Roman pipe, called the tibia, is a reed wind musical instrument similar to the Greek aulos. It can be made of wood, bone, and/or metal. Materials consisting of metal Cu-based alloys were excavated from archaeological burial environments. This research aims to identify the composition of the alloys, characterize the corrosion patinas, and identify any ancient surface treatments on the fragments. Non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques were used to achieve this aim, i.e., optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometry. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the materials and manufacturing techniques used for these instruments, as well as the degradation processes occurring over the centuries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts)
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