Corrosion and Soiling in the 21st Century: Insights from ICP Materials and Impact on Cultural Heritage
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper reviews results published by the International Co-operative Programme on Effects on Materials including Historic and Cultural Monuments (ICP Materials) with emphasis on those obtained after the turn of the century. Data from ICP Materials come from two main sources. The first is through exposures of materials and collection of environmental data in a network of atmospheric exposure test sites mainly distributed across Europe. Corrosion of carbon steel has continued to decrease during the period 2000–2020 but corrosion of zinc only up until 2014, and the trend in zinc corrosion is only visible when examining four-year data. Surface recession of limestone as well as soiling of modern glass show no decreasing trend during 2000–2020. The second is through case studies performed at heritage sites across Europe. Risk analysis of corrosion and soiling for twenty-six sites indicate that currently soiling is a more significant maintenance trigger than corrosion. Costs for maintaining heritage sites are substantial and costs attributable to air pollution is estimated from 40% to as much as 80% of the total cost. Future directions of the program are work on effects of particulate matter, improving the scientific basis for the work, and making the monitoring data publicly available.
DOI: 10.3390/cmd6040054
Authors: Johan Tidblad, Alice Moya Núñez, Daniel de la Fuente, Gino Ebell, Tore Flatlandsmo Berglen, Terje Grøntoft, Ulrik Hans, Ioannis Christodoulakis, Daniel Kajánek, Kateřina Kreislová, Lech Kwiatkowski, Teresa La Torreta, Rafał Lutze, Guadalupe Pinar Larrubia, Valentina Pintus, Michael Prange, Pasquale Spezzano, Costas Varotsos, Aurélie Verney-Carron, Tiina Vuorio, Tim Yates
Institutions: RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Cenim - Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalurgicas, Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing, NILU, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, The American College of Greece, University of Žilina, State Research Institute for Material Protection (Czechia), Łukasiewicz Research Network – Warsaw Institute of Technology, National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Häme University of Applied Sciences, Building Research Establishment
Language: English
Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
OpenAlex ID: W4415458490