CHANGE presentation at the ICON-CC Glass & Ceramics 6th Interim Meeting 2022
During the ICON-CC Glass & Ceramics 6th Interim Meeting 2022, Conservation Scientist Tiziana Lombardo presented the results of the CHANGE PhD student Deepshikha Sharma’s work. The results presented in the conference concerned artificially corroded model glass and investigated with several techniques including Raman, FTIR, 3-D Digital microscopy and Hyperspectral Imaging.
Abstract of the presentation
At the Swiss National Museum (SNM), evidence of degradation, such as cracking, salt neocrystallizations – primarily of methanoates (formates) and ethanoates (acetates) – oriridescence, was observed on historical glass objects dating to the 17th-20th centuries CE. To better understand the deterioration, artificial aging experiments were designed to investigate glass corrosion due to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using specially formulated model-glass samples mimicking compositions of three corroded historical glass objects. However, evidence of VOC-induced corrosion was also found on model- glass samples artificially aged without intentional exposure to VOCs, suggesting that the preconditioned silica gel included in the artificial aging environment to obtain specific humidities may emit these compounds. Therefore, all corroded model-glass samples, aged for different periods of time in the presence of preconditioned silica gel, were characterized physically and chemically to understand the extent of corrosion. Further research on the suitability of the preconditioned silica gel is ongoing.