A mini-catalogue of metal corrosion products studied by Raman microscopy

Full text.The extensive development of physical methods of analysis since the beginning of this century has revolutionised the classical observation techniques most frequently used by the archaeologist. Raman Microscopy (RM) appears to be one of the most promising tools due to the many advantages that it offers: e.g. non-destructive, in situ, micro-analysis. RM is being applied to many archaeological fields as well as to industrial or environmental sectors. In relation with parallel studies made on the identification of corrosion products on archaeological materials, and according to the principal condition for the RM characterisation of an unknown product being the comparison of its Raman spectrum with known standard spectra, the essential aim of this study is to build a mini-catalogue of standard corrosion products susceptible to be found on metallic objects; these could be from archaeological as well as from modern contexts. However, it is noted that the identification of a corrosion product may suggest either an urgent intervention from the restoration team (in the case of active corrosion products), or a stabilisation of the corrosion layer if this is considered to be a protective layer. All the standard samples are natural minerals coming from the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (France) and correspond to the corrosion products most frequently found on metals such copper, zinc, lead or tin. These samples have been analyzed by RM and also confirmed by powder x-ray diffraction analysis. This catalogue, including more than 30 standard species corresponding to the most common metal corrosion products, is very useful for the different studies in progress in collaboration with different archaeological metal restoration teams. The near future will probably see a mobile Raman Microprobe (MRM) equipped with many different mini-catalogues on the site of a corroded mettalic bridge, a corroded canalisation or under the sea to rapidly identify the different corrosion products present, and thus help to take the correct decisions in situ