Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts (Second Edition)
A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials and Heritage".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 131
Editors
Interests: metals cultural heritage; corrosion; treatments; corrosion inhibitors; coatings; green methods; marine conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: archaeological metals conservation; NDT analytical techniques; ancient technology; marine conservation; metals protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The last decade has witnessed a surge in research focused on the implementation of advanced spectroscopic, electrochemical, and imaging techniques, alongside green materials, technologies, and digital tools for the conservation and restoration of metal artifacts. However, characterizing both terrestrial and marine metal artifacts remains a complex challenge, particularly with respect to original alloy compositions, corrosion layers, and post-excavation stability. Furthermore, many routine practices for the storage, treatment, protection, display, and transport of these artifacts are now recognized as either chemically hazardous or environmentally detrimental. Consequently, conservation professionals are increasingly making concerted efforts to evaluate the carbon footprints of the materials and practices they use, seeking sustainable alternatives that reduce environmental impact without compromising preservation standards.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers—both original research articles and reviews—that offer insights into these emerging applications. We seek to advance the understanding of:
- Alloy compositions and complex corrosion matrices across diverse environments;
- New materials and technologies used for conservation;
- Sustainable methods for the storage, display, or transport of metal artifacts;
-Strategies for in situ conservation and monitoring.
This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts addressing the following themes:
(a) Museum Environments: Management of climates specific to metal artifact stability;
(b) Green Materials and Technologies: Sustainable practices for the conservation and restoration of metal artifacts;
(c) Analytical/Diagnostic Innovation: Non-invasive, portable techniques for in situ diagnosis monitoring of metals artifacts, including their surrounding environment;
(d) Field conservation: Challenges and solutions for in situ preservation of metal artifacts;
(e) Characterization: Advanced studies on metal alloys and the morphology of corrosion layers.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Prof. Dr. Vasilike Argyropoulos
Dr. Maria Giannoulaki
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized 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 1800 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
- non-invasive portable analytical/diagnostic techniques
- museum environment
- in situ conservation
- material characterization
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Related Special Issue
- Conservation and Restoration of Metal Artifacts in Heritage (10 articles)
