Lead Corrosion and Corrosivity Classification in Archives, Museums, and Churches.

Sixteen localities were involved in a broad study, resulting in the classification of the indoor corrosivity of metals considered in the ISO 11844 standard, especially lead. Recently, lead has been added to the standard as a metal specifically sensitive to volatile organic compounds such as acetic acid. Data on one-year exposure in museum depositories and exhibition spaces, archives, libraries, and churches show that the currently valid lead corrosivity categories are not correctly defined. The obtained data allowed for the proposal of new realistic ranges of indoor corrosivity categories for lead. The exposure program was also used to validate techniques for determining the corrosion degradation of metal coupons. Mass increase and mass loss techniques were supplemented with the galvanostatic reduction technique and the measurement of color changes. The study identified the limitations of the mass gain method. Not only is the galvanostatic reduction technique applicable for silver and copper coupons, but the build-up of reducible lead corrosion products depends on air corrosivity. CIELab color-change measurement has proven to be a simple and easy-to-apply method for monitoring the corrosivity of indoor atmospheres with regard to lead. A more reliable response is provided by the determination of color change after 3 months of exposure rather than after one year.

Experimental Measurement of Deposition Chloride Ions in the Vicinity of Road Cut.

Chloride ions are nowadays the main cause of the degradation of steel and reinforce concrete construction in the vicinity of the road. On the other hand, chloride ions, usually in the form of de-icing salts or brine, are very important for safe winter traffic on the roads. This creates a slightly schizophrenic situation where it is necessary to ensure safe traffic in the winter period and at the same time to affect the service life of the structure as little as possible. The effect of the roadway on chloride deposition is a long-studied, but still imprecisely understood, part of the effect of chloride ions on structures in the vicinity of the roadway. This paper discusses the experimental measurement of chloride deposition in the vicinity of the I/11 road in the Czech Republic by dry plate method, wet candle method and corrosion coupons. Statistical analysis of correlation and regression is performed on the results of measurements by wet candle and horizontal dry plate methods. The methods are interdependent. A detailed analysis of the surface and chemical properties of the corrosion products is performed on the corrosion coupons. Using the corrosion loss, the environmental category C2 is determined. Observation of the microclimate in the vicinity of the roads gives to engineers a basis for the correct design of structures around the roads. The conclusions of the experimental measurements are intended to help engineers to design a structure that is safe, serviceable and sufficiently resistant to chloride ions within its service life.

Color Measurement in the Corrosivity Assessment of Museums, Archives, and Churches.

Indoors, volatile organic acids can play an important role in the degradation process of many materials. Considering this fact, metal corrosion coupons of copper, silver, lead, and zinc were exposed to different climatic conditions of 18 locations for 3, 12, and 30 months, and their corrosion rates were evaluated based on mass loss, as recommended by the ISO 11844 standard. The corrosion rates were compared with in situ colorimetric measurements to validate the colorimetry as a simple tool for estimating the corrosivity of an environment. The results have shown good correlation between the methods for two metals: silver and lead, confirming the possibility of non-destructive monitoring of their corrosion by measurement of color changes.

Corrosion Processes on Weathering Steel Bridges Influenced by Deposition of De-Icing Salts.

The safety and durability of bridges designed from weathering steels are conditioned by the development of a sufficiently protective layer of corrosion products. Air pollution, microclimate around the bridge, time of wetness, structural solution of the bridge, and the position and orientation of the surface within the bridge structure all influence the development of protective layers on the surface of the weathering steel. In this article, attention is focused mainly on the microclimatic effects resulting from the road traffic under the bridge. The influence of chloride deposition on the development of corrosion products is evaluated using experimental in situ testing. Two neighboring bridges made of weathering steel and crossing different types of obstacles were selected for this experiment. Relations and dependences between the measured parameters (deposition rate of chlorides, corrosion rates, thickness of corrosion products and the amount of chlorides in corrosion products) are evaluated and discussed.

The Results of 45 Years of Atmospheric Corrosion Study in the Czech Republic.

Atmospheric corrosion poses a significant problem with regard to destruction of various materials, especially metals. Observations made over the past decades suggest that the world's climate is changing. Besides global warming, there are also changes in other parameters. For example, average annual precipitation increased by nearly 10% over the course of the 20th century. In Europe, the most significant change, from the atmospheric corrosion point of view, was an increase in SO2 pollution in the 1970s through the 1980s and a subsequent decrease in this same industrial air pollution and an increase in other types of air pollution, which created a so-called multi-pollutant atmospheric environment. Exposed metals react to such changes immediately, even if corrosion attack started in high corrosive atmospheres. This paper presents a complex evaluation of the effect of air pollution and other environmental parameters and verification of dose/response equations for conditions in the Czech Republic.

ICP Materials Trends in Corrosion, Soiling and Air Pollution (1987-2014).

Results from the international cooperative programme on effects on materials including historic and cultural monuments are presented from the period 1987-2014 and include pollution data (SO2, NO2, O3, HNO3 and PM10), corrosion data (carbon steel, weathering steel, zinc, copper, aluminium and limestone) and data on the soiling of modern glass for nineteen industrial, urban and rural test sites in Europe. Both one-year and four-year corrosion data are presented. Corrosion and pollution have decreased significantly and a shift in the magnitude is generally observed around 1997: from a sharp decrease to a more modest decrease or to a constant level without any decrease. SO2 levels, carbon steel and copper corrosion have decreased even after 1997, which is more pronounced in urban areas, while corrosion of the other materials shows no decrease after 1997, when looking at one-year values. When looking at four-year values, however, there is a significant decrease after 1997 for zinc, which is not evident when looking at the one-year values. This paper also presents results on corrosion kinetics by comparison of one- and four-year values. For carbon steel and copper, kinetics is relatively independent of sites while other materials, especially zinc, show substantial variation in kinetics for the first four years, which needs to be considered when producing new and possibly improved models for corrosion.