Abstract
Recent discoveries have shown the presence of several shipwrecks and historical pieces submerged in the seacoast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Within these remains, it is common to found objects manufactured in copper alloys that were part of the construction system of the vessel. For the present study, different surface analysis techniques were applied to tubular copper alloy objects collected in the wreck “El Tejas”. The metallographic study allowed us to know not only the microstructure but also features over its manufacturing technique, as an example of nineteenth-century handmade production. SEM, EDX and XRF techniques allowed us know the elemental composition and establish the mechanisms of degradation of the different copper alloys in the seabed and evaluated a preservation method that consist on removing chlorine compounds by cleaning with pressure steam of distilled water.
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Arano, D.E., Espinosa, Y., Barba, H. et al. Characterization and Evaluation of Salty Cleaning Compounds Study in Historic Objects made of Copper Alloys from the “El Tejas” Shipwreck. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1618, 247–253 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.474
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.474