Degradation of heritage cans: Monitoring of museums' collections

This paper presents the outcomes of the CANS project (Conservation of cAns in collectioNS), an interdisciplinary research aiming at proposing conservation strategies for full cans, still retaining their original contents, in museums and collections. The paper includes the results of the condition report, measuring the state of conservation of 150 cans from 5 Swiss collections, the correlation between state of conservation, content and age of the can and the extensive characterization of the cans' materials for a better understanding of the corrosion mechanisms.