Abstract:
The corrosion behavior and surface characteristics of silver artifact materials exposed to environments of different SO
2 concentrations, relative humidity and temperatures were investigated using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) reactivity monitoring method combined with scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Raman spectroscopy surface analysis techniques. The results show that the frequency of silver-plated quartz crystals exposed to different environments decreased and eventually stabilized with the increase of time. SO
2 gas could promote the corrosion of silver, and the corrosion rate increased with the increase of its content. The increase of temperature and relative humidity also aggravated the corrosion of SO
2 on silver. In the SO
2-containing environment, corrosion products of Ag
2O, Ag
2SO
3 and Ag
2SO
4 were formed on the silver surface.