Characterisation of CIME, an experimental chamber for simulating interactions between materials of the cultural heritage and the environment

Abstract

An approach consisting in combining in situ and laboratory experiments is often favoured for investigating the mechanisms involved in the weathering of the materials of the cultural heritage. However, the realistic simulation in the laboratory of the environmental conditions ruling the interactions of atmospheric compounds with materials is a very complex task. The aim of this work is to characterise CIME, a new chamber specially built to simulate the interactions between materials of the cultural heritage and the environment. The originality of this instrument is that beside the usual climatic parameters (temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation) and gaseous pollutants, it also allows the controlled injection of different types of particulate matter such as terrigenous, marine and anthropogenic. Therefore, varied realistic atmospheric environments (marine or urban) can be easily simulated within CIME. In addition to the technical description of CIME, this paper shows the first results obtained by the impact of gaseous pollutants on non-durable glass, bronze and limestone. The first experiments for the deposition of different particles (calcite, clays, soot and halite) are also presented.

Does Atmospheric Corrosion Alter the Sound Quality of the Bronze Used for Manufacturing Bells?

“…The Chamber of Interaction between the Materials and the Environment (CIME) is a chamber designed in the laboratory to reproduce the impact of gaseous and particulate pollutants on materials under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. A detailed technical description of CIME is given in [ 21 ]. Briefly, a stainless-steel tank is connected to generators and analyzers dedicated to gases (SO 2 , NO 2 , CO 2 , O 3 and VOC) and atmospheric particles of natural or anthropic origin.…”

“…A weathering cycle consists of successive injections of gas (15 days, 3 times a day), particles (3 days, 1 day per type of dust) and gas (15 days, 3 times a day). Under these experimental conditions, gaseous pollutants react with bronze coupons and relative humidity to form copper and tin oxides, sulfides and sulfates [ 21 ]. These products, with their hygroscopic properties, form a rough layer that makes it easier for the particles to adhere.…”

Building pathology and environment: Weathering and decay of stone construction materials subjected to a Csa mediterranean climate laboratory simulation

“…Considering that an accelerate daily cycle has been done in 40 min, a total of 6480 daily cycles were reproduced, corresponding to about 18 years of hypothetical outdoor exposure (T A , acceleration factor F = 36). As indicated in the previous work [29], the term hypothetical outdoor exposure, introduced by [31], indicates a incertain correspondence between the decay reproduced in six months of test and 18 years of natural outdoor exposure (T NA ). This happens due to several issues as:…”

“…Other weathering in a complex climatic chamber (CIME) was performed by some authors [29] to mimick the interactions between Cultural Heritage materials and environmental parameters as: temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, gaseous pollutants and different types of particulate matter such as terrigenous, marine and anthropogenic. The test had the capacity to simulate a marine and/or urban environment.…”

Effect of marine aerosols on the alteration of silicate glasses

“…Aerosols with an approximately diameter of 1.0 ± 0.5 µm [50], were produced and seeded homogeneously on the surface (Fig. 1a).…”