Electrochemical study of indoor atmospheric corrosion layers formed on ancient iron artefacts

Several indoor atmospheric corrosion layers (0–800 years old) were selected from different localisations in France. Each sample was scrapped from its iron substrate. The resulting powder was mixed with graphite in appropriate proportions and the mixture was pressed onto a stainless steel grid to constitute a composite electrode. The electrochemical responses of the different samples were recorded under galvanostatic regulation, in a near-neutral pH-buffered NaCl solution at 25 °C. The E–t reduction curves allowed the determination of two characteristic parameters, Eτ/2, the potential value obtained at half the transition time, and Qτ, the coulombic charge obtained at the end of the reduction. The diminution of Eτ/2 and Qτ with the age of the corrosion layer showed that the “reduction reactivity” decreases with time, suggesting a progressive stabilisation of the corrosion layer.In a second part of the work, we synthesised several common ferric or ferrous/ferric products (goethite, lepidocrocite, magnetite, maghemite, ferrihydrite) and compared their reduction responses (product alone or mixture of 2 or 3 products) to those of corrosion samples.