Search

When exposed to air, silver artifacts undergo an unpleasant darkening and shiny loss, commonly known as tarnishing. At the present, the development of protective coatings by using eco-friendly and biocompatible materials, able to ensure high transparency and to hinder the degradation of silver objects, remains a huge challenge. In this study, chitosan was used for the first time to realize sustainable coatings for silver protection. Both pure and benzotriazole-containing chitosan coatings were prepared and applied on sterling silver disks. A commercial product based on acrylic resin was used as a reference. The aesthetic features and protective properties of these coatings were evaluated by performing two different types of aging treatments. In particular, the assessment of the protective efficacy was carried out by reproducing both highly aggressive polluted environments and real-like museums' storage conditions. In the first case, chitosan-based coatings with benzotriazole performed better, whereas in storage conditions all the chitosan films showed comparable efficacy. Compositional, morphological and structural analyses were used to evaluate the protective properties of the coatings and to detect any physical or chemical modifications after the aging treatments. Our findings reveal that the two different testing methods provide complementary information. Moreover, chitosan coatings can achieve protective efficacy comparable with that of the commercial product but using non-toxic solvents and a renewable biopolymer. Chitosan coatings, designed for cultural heritage conservation, are thus promising for the protection of common sterling silver objects.

The protection of metals from atmospheric corrosion is a task of primary importance for many applications and many different products have been used, sometimes being toxic and harmful for health and the environment. In order to overcome drawbacks due to toxicity of the corrosion inhibitors and harmful organic solvents and to ensure long-lasting protection, new organic compounds have been proposed and their corrosion inhibition properties have been investigated. In this work, we describe the use of a new environment-friendly anticorrosive coating that takes advantage of the synergism between an eco-friendly bio-polymer matrix and an amino acid. The corrosion inhibition of a largely used Copper-based (Cu-based) alloy against the chloride-induced indoor atmospheric attack was studied using chitosan (CH) as a biopolymer and l-Cysteine (Cy) as an amino acid. To evaluate the protective efficacy of the coatings, tailored accelerated corrosion tests were carried out on bare and coated Cu-based alloys, further, the nature of the protective film formed on the Cu-based alloy surface was analyzed by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) while the surface modifications due to the corrosion treatments were investigated by optical microscopy (OM). The evaluation tests reveal that the Chitosan/l-Cysteine (CH/Cy) coatings exhibit good anti-corrosion properties against chloride attack whose efficiency increases with a minimum amount of Cy of 0.25 mg/mL.

The attractive physicochemical properties of chitosan make its derived materials promising candidates for the reliable and sustainable corrosion protection of metallic substrates. In this work, chitosan-based coatings embedding different corrosion inhibitors, i.e. benzotriazole (BTA) and mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), were investigated for the protection of copper-based alloys, with the aim to extend their application to the preservation of works of art exposed to indoor atmosphere. The composition of the formulations was optimized paying particular attention to their potential application in the field of cultural heritage. To assess the efficacy of the coatings, tailored accelerated corrosion tests were carried out on bare and coated bronze substrates. Coated and uncoated alloy disks were characterized before and after corrosion treatments by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Moreover, an image analysis protocol was defined to evaluate the extent of surface modifications after degradation treatments. The obtained results revealed that the chitosan-based coatings containing BTA and MBT fulfil the aesthetic criteria required in the field of cultural heritage and are able to inhibit the corrosion of bronze alloys. It is worth noting that a synergic effect between the chemical protection provided by the inhibitors and the physical one provided by the polymer matrix was observed. Our findings demonstrate that the developed systems are suitable for a reliable and more sustainable protection of indoor bronze artefacts, thus representing a promising alternative to commercial products and particularly taking advantage from the use of non-harmful solvents for their application and removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]