Development of an analytical procedure for evaluation of the protective behaviour of innovative fungal patinas on archaeological and artistic metal artefacts.

In the literature, the ability to transform metal compounds into metal oxalates has been reported for different species of fungi. This could be an innovative conservation method for archaeological and artistic metal artefacts. In fact, with a high degree of insolubility and chemical stability even in acid atmospheres (pH 3), metal oxalates provide the surface with good protection. Within the framework of the EU-ARTECH project, different fungal strains have been used to transform existing corrosion patinas on outdoor bronze monuments into copper oxalates, while preserving the physical appearance of these artefacts. Given the promising results obtained with this first attempt, the same approach is now applied within the BAHAMAS (Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship action) project, but extended to other metal substrates, for example iron and silver, which are frequently found in cultural heritage artworks and also encounter several problems of active corrosion. The research is investigating the formation mechanisms and adhesion properties of the newly formed metal oxalates by means of complementary analytical techniques (X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR microscopy, Raman microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), colorimetry). For each metal substrate, the most appropriate fungal strain is going to be identified and applied to corroded sheets and the novel fungal treatment compared with those used so far. Treated metal sheets will be monitored during 1-year exposure to different cycles of artificial ageing, to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the fungal patinas obtained. The objective of this contribution is to present the first results achieved so far on naturally corroded bronze sheets during the EU-ARTECH project and the analytical procedure used for the testing of the proposed treatment performances during the BAHAMAS project.