Corrosion and conservation of cultural heritage metallic artefacts

With few exceptions, all metals are subject to degradation by chemical reaction of the metal with its environment, that is, corrosion. This includes, of course, metals that make up or are part of cultural heritage assets. While corrosion of metals in the industrial field can be, in many circumstances, expressed in economic terms, due to the economic losses caused by this process, due to the costs involved in the maintenance of metallic objects or their replacement, in the case of cultural heritage, every object is unique and therefore any loss is irreplaceable. The corrosion effects in the case of artistic or historic artefacts can be seen as positive, for instance, producing a patina which is considered aesthetically pleasant. However, in most cases, it produces a damage. In the case of heritage artefacts, the impairment of the function produced by corrosion is related with the loss of some specific values (artistic, historic, scientific, social, etc.) of that object.Peer reviewe