Cleaning Historical Metals: Performance of Laser Technology in Monument Preservation

In practical restoration – depending on the object in question and the regional attitude to monument restoration – widely differing techniques and restoration philosophies have been, and still are, applied to the exposure of metal. Depending on the type of metal, this results in differing working materials as well as highly diverging definitions of the required degree of exposure as far as removing corrosive deposits is concerned. Therefore, particularly where metallic or heat sensitive cultural assets are concerned, the applicability of an efficient cleaning procedure using contact-free laser beam technology, which is also gentle on the material, should be examined.