Use of EIS for the evaluation of the protective properties of coatings for metallic cultural heritage: a review

Abstract

The best way to reduce the degradation of metallic cultural heritage is through preventive conservation measures but, in many cases, it is not possible to obtain adequate environmental conditions, and it is necessary to apply coatings to the artefacts in order to protect them against corrosion. There is a continuous search in the metal conservation community for new and improved coatings that provide a better protection to the objects whilst respecting the special requirements of the conservation–restoration ethics. Whilst electrochemical techniques have a long tradition in conservation–restoration treatments for metallic cultural heritage, the evaluation of protective coatings using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has only been used very recently. EIS is a very well-established method to investigate metal coatings for general purposes and has many advantages that make it especially suitable for testing coatings for metallic works of art. This paper makes a review of the use of EIS for testing coatings for metallic cultural heritage from the first publications in the mid-1990s to the last papers. The experimental setup used, the types of coatings and metals investigated and the interpretation of the results are reviewed and compared with the use of EIS for testing general purpose anti-corrosive coatings.