An Analytical Methodology for the Study of the Corrosion of Ferrous Archaeological Remains in Soils

Mandana Saheb (1) , Delphine D. Neff (1) , Eddy Foy (1) , J.-P. Gallien (1) , Philippe Dillmann (1, 2)

1 LAPA - UMR 3685 - Laboratoire Archéomatériaux et Prévision de l'Altération
2 IRAMAT - Institut de Recherches sur les Archéomatériaux

In the context of the cultural heritage, a methodology based on field and laboratory approaches is developed for studying the long-term corrosion of iron. Moreover it has been adapted to the study of archaeological artefacts buried in anoxic soils in the specific case of in-situ preservation. The environmental parameters are determined on the archaeological sites and artefacts are collected and characterised using complementary multi-scale techniques. Moreover, laboratory experiments are performed to locate the reaction sites inside the corrosion layer and to identify its electronic properties. The results allow estimation of a low corrosion rate for iron buried in an anoxic soil (under 2 µm/year) and the proposal of a mechanism based on a decoupling of the anodic and the cathodic sites. Then a diagnosis of the alteration state of the samples is established.

Mots clés: In-situ preservation; anoxic water-saturated environment; iron corrosion

Domaines: Héritage culturel et muséologie; Matériaux

Mandana Saheb, Delphine D. Neff, Eddy Foy, J.-P. Gallien, Philippe Dillmann. An Analytical Methodology for the Study of the Corrosion of Ferrous Archaeological Remains in Soils. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 2012, 14 (1-4), pp.16-27. ⟨halshs-00828789⟩