Research summary

In this project corrosion mechanisms of glazes of historical and contemporary ceramic artworks will be studied. Model glasses and glazes will be artificially weathered in the laboratory using climatic chambers; they will be exposed to different environmental conditions varying the temperature, humidity and acidity in order to study their chemical behavior under different environments. Surface analysis techniques, such as atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy will be used to investigate the modifications of the surface structure and the chemistry involved in the corrosion processes. The composition of the model glazes and glasses will be similar to those found on analyzed artifacts and on published data. The results obtained will be compared with the observed weathering either in historical or contemporary glazes.

PhD project title: Glazes of historical and contemporary ceramic artworks and their corrosion mechanisms.

Supervisor: Carlo Pantano (Materials Research Institute, Penn State University, EUA), Elvira Fortunato (Cenimat, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia-UNL), Marco Verità (Università Iuav di Venezia, Itália)