Study on Characteristics of Corrosion Products Generated in Iron Artifacts after Conservation Treatments

Abstract

Iron objects become corroded at fast speed from the moment when they are excavated, so it is needed to control corrosion through processes of conservation treatment. However, re-corrosion mostly takes place in excavate iron objects, although they have already gone through the process of conservation treatment, and it is more difficult to carry out the second conservation treatment of re-corroded excavated iron objects than the first conservation treatment, and it requires a longer period of time to treat them as well. In this study, aims to discover factors of re-corrosion by scientifically analyzing corrosion products generated during the process of storage after the process of conservation treatment. The finished on conservation treatment of the iron artifacts, which were unearthed from three ancient site in Gyeongju by using the same conservation method between 2002 and 2009, re-corrosion condition observed on the packaging-iron artifacts. Focused on 9 target forged iron artifacts among them, this study analyzed the physical changes by mass measurement, naked-eye and microscopic observations and the chemical changes by SEM-EDS, XRD, IC and ICP analysis. The results show that the yellowish brown corrosion products formed on the facing surface of part dropped 477(1-2), 90-99.