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ESEM and Video Microscopy Studies in Stone Conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Eric Doehne
Eric Doehne*
Affiliation:
The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Extract

Observation of stone deterioration using in situ,time-lapse microscopy techniques has revealed previously undescribed material behaviors that help to explain the destructive effects of several important processes in wall paintings, historic structures and monuments. It has long been acknowledged that cyclic stresses imparted by humidity changes, wet-dry cycling, and the crystallization and hydration of soluble salts, are important agents in the deterioration of these porous structures. The crystallization of salts is a particularly serious conservation problem (Arnold, 1975). Over time, cyclic salt crystallization results in the physical breakdown of the material (Goudie, 1993). Objects affected by such processes are often difficult to conserve since they are weak to begin with and the presence of salt inhibits the curing of some common conservation materials (Price and Kumar, 1994).

Sodium sulfate is one of the most damaging of salts, apparently because it expands during the transition from the anhydrous phase (Na2SO4; thenardite) to the decahydrate form (Na2SO4•l0H2O; mirabilite).

Type
In Situ Studies in Microscopy
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 613 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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References

Arnold, A. (1976) Soluble salts and stone weathering, in The Conservation of Stone I. Proceedings of the International Symposium, Bologna, June 19-21, 1975, p. 133–136.Google Scholar
Doehne, E., and Stulik, D. C. (1990) Applications of the environmental scanning electron microscope to conservation science. Scanning Microscopy, v. 4, p. 275–286.Google Scholar
Goudie, A. S., 1993, Salt weathering simulation using a single-immersion technique. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 18, p. 369–376.Google Scholar
McMahon, D. J., Sandberg, P., Folliard, K., and Mehta, P. K. (1992) Deterioration mechanisms of sodium sulfate, in International Congress on Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, v. 2, p. 705–714.Google Scholar
Price, C. A., and Kumar, R. (1994) The Influence of salts on the hydrolosis and condensation of methly-trimethoxxysilane, in IIIrd International Symposium on the Conservation of Monuments in the Mediterranean Basin, Venice, Italy.Google Scholar