An Improved Oddy Test Using Metal Films

Studies in Conservation
ISSN: 0039-3630 (Print) 2047-0584 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ysic20
An Improved Oddy Test Using Metal Films

Sheng Wang, Lingdong Kong, Zhisheng An, Jianmin Chen, Laimin Wu &
Xinguang Zhou
To cite this article: Sheng Wang, Lingdong Kong, Zhisheng An, Jianmin Chen, Laimin Wu &
Xinguang Zhou (2011) An Improved Oddy Test Using Metal Films, Studies in Conservation, 56:2,
138-153
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/sic.2011.56.2.138
Published online: 19 Jul 2013.
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Date: 04 April 2016, At: 13:47
138
An Improved Oddy Test Using

Metal Films
Downloaded by [79.114.91.26] at 13:47 04 April 2016
Sheng Wang, Lingdong Kong, Zhisheng An,]ianmin Chen, Laimin Wu

and Xinguang Zhou
The Oddy
display and
This paper
metal films
by computer
test is an (accelerated' corrosion test employed by museums to evaluate the suitability of materials pro~osed for use i,n
storage cases, The standard Oddy test requires a 28-day test period, and the results are assessed by vlsual observatIOn.
describes an improved test method, which could reduce the length of the test period by half The improved method uses
as substitutes for the traditional metal coupons posing as (surrogate art object', The new test results are then evaluated
with digital image processing for more objective selection of less corrosive materials.
INTRODUCTION
With the development of modern industry, various
materials can be selected for storage and display cases
or for indoor decoration in the museum. These include
wood, plastics, fabrics, coatings, adhesives, polymers and
composite materials. However, consideration should
be given to the fact that these materials may release
various kinds of volatile chemical compounds which
could cause deterioration of artifacts or archaeological
finds. Chemicals such as sulfur-containing compounds,
formic acid, acetic acid and carbonyl compounds are
typically emitted by a variety of materials and are often
observed in high concentration
[1, 2]. Especially in
confined spaces, such as display cases or storerooms,
concentrations of these chemicals would steadily increase, which would accelerate the corrosion rate of
historical objects or metal artifacts.
In the last 30 years, techniques and methods have
been developed to identify materials potentially harmful to historic artifacts and to assess the suitability of
Received October 2009
STUDIES
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materials used in museums. Generally, traditional testing

methods, especially the Oddy test [3-5], have been
widely used. Although one can obtain relatively reliable
results by this method, it does require a 28-day test
period. Such a long time period prevents users from
making quick decisions regarding materials selection
in the museum. Visual assessment of changes in color
and luster of the metal coupons has obvious limitations.
Other drawbacks of the traditional Oddy test lie in the
fact that the placement of the metal coupons and the
sealing method of the test tube do not guarantee the
airtightness of the glass container. Furthermore, since the
nylon monofilament is relatively soft, it is impossible to
simultaneously measure the effect of the same material
on two or more different kinds of metal coupons at once
in the same test tube by using the traditional Oddy test
[5]. For these reasons, several modified test set-ups and
procedures have been proposed to improve the Oddy
test method. Robinet and Thickett [6] have established
the so-called 'three-in-one' test by using a soft silicone
stopper to replace the ground glass stopper and inserting
three metal coupons through the stopper. This method
can indirectly improve the airtightness of the test device,
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
AN IMPROVED ODDY TEST USING METAL FILMS
greatly simplifies the test, and reduces the preparation

time. Bamberger and Ho\-ve [7] developed another
'three-in-one' test set-up by placing a small Pyrex beaker
into a flint glass jar and three folded metal test coupons
on the rim of the inner Pyrex beaker. This alternative
procedure allows the testing of three types of metals at
once, offers improvements on the shape of the container
and the metal coupons used in the standard Oddy test
method, and greatly improves the air tightness of the
entire set-up by adopting an efficient sealing procedure.
However, all these variants focus on the metal coupons
of the standard Oddy test method, as well as adjusting
the main influencing
factors such as temperature,
humidity, size and shape of container, neglecting to
attempt a reduction in the test period.
Given that the traditional
Oddy test is timeconsuming and not always reliable, there is an urgent
need for a faster and more reliable test to select materials
for display cases or storerooms in museums. In this paper,
high surface area silver and copper fums are described,
along with improved methods for attaching the metal
film coupons and guaranteeing an airtight seal of the
test chamber. Furthermore, digital image processing
techniques to quantify the extent of corrosion of those
metal films after exposure in the test chamber will be
proposed as an alternative to the traditional Oddy test.
Metal films are extremely appropriate for testing due
to several important unique characteristics. First, metal
films possess much higher surface area and higher
reactivity than a massive metal solid [8], which greatly
accelerates the corrosion rate, thereby reducing the
test period. Second, because of the rapid development
of modern plating techniques, such as the vacuum
evaporation method [9], the sputtering method [10]
and ion plating [11], it is possible to easily and costeffectively produce such films to be used for a quick and
reliable test method, instead of the traditional silver and
copper metal coupons used in the Oddy test.
The digital image-collecting technique and segmenting technique based on the algorithms of K-means
cluster analysis [12] used for this \-vork make it possible
to quantify the proportion of corroded regions on the
films. Moreover, this digital image-processing method
would overcome the errors made by visual observation
of color and luster changes in the metal coupons. It
would reduce an individual operator's influence of the
assessment and improve the test efficiency and reliability
due to its objectivity.
Numerous
tests were carried out on set-ups,
procedures and multiple fums to establish reproducibility,
accuracy and sensitivity of the new test method. The
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139
collection of a large number of successful experiments

shows that highly reproducible and reliable results can
be achieved by reducing the test period to 14 days with
the metal films and digital image-processing method.
Ultimately, the method described in this work for the
first time attempts to shorten the test period and utilizes
a more reliable evaluation for materials proposed for use
in museums, and it is hoped that it might help to set new
standards in truly accelerated Oddy tests in the future.
EXPERIMENTAL
Test materials
The materials tested include natural or artificial materials
such as wood and wood products, fabrics, glues and
paints. These were selected so as to be representative and
contain all the different components of a typical museum
display case or storage room. The sampling method is the
same as that of the traditional Oddy test [5].
Preparation
of metal films
Metal films are prepared by the vacuum evaporation

method [9] that deposits vaporized metal on certain
substrates. Edge polished and surface defect-free glass
wafers are selected as the substrate, and typically, the glass
wafer has a radius ofl0.0 mm and a thickness of 1.0 mm.
The metals, i.e. silver (>99.9, w/w) and copper (>99.9,
w /w; both from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co Ltd,
Shanghai, China), are used without further purification.
An optical multi-layer coating machine (model: DMD450, Beijing Instrument Factory, Beijing, China) is used
to prepare the metal films. For each 'batch', 0.6 g of
silver or 1.5 g of copper and 100 glass wafers (Shanghai
Guang He Optics Manufacture Co Ltd) are placed in
the chamber of the machine (working current: 300 A),
which is subsequently evacuated to 1 x 10-5 Torr. Metal
deposition is completed in 45 minutes. The metal films
prepared are preserved in vacuum packages once they
are taken out of the chamber.
A Philips XL-30 scanning electron microscope (SEM)
was used to record the surface uniformity, particle size
and distribution on the surface and the thickness of the
metal films. In addition, an XTL-3400 stereomicroscope
digital system was used to record an image of each metal
film used for the test.
56 (2011)
PAGES
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140
S. WANG,
L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU
33mm
1-"
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glass stopper
170 rum
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-,
I
1
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image card
damp
computer
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
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L,_,-1
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small glass tube

~. distilled water
teshample
Figure 1
(a) Test set-up with metal films; (b) schematic diagram of image collecting device.
Procedure
Image acquisition
While the general test procedure used. is that of the

standard Oddy test, modifications and improvements
have been made. In addition to the use of silver and
copper films, the test set-up has been improved [7], as
illustrated in Figure 1a, guaranteeing better airtightness
and the possibility of evaluating a greater number of
films at the same time. Approximately 2.0 g of the test
material is put into a 50 mL glass test tube. A 0.5 mL
small test tube is filled with distilled water and loosely
topped with a small cotton plug, then it is placed
into the larger test tube. After that, the metal films are
attached and directly suspended from the tube stopper
by using hooks coated with polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE), ensuring some distance between neighboring
metal films (Figure 1a). The whole assembly is placed in
an oven at 60C and taken out after 14 days. During the
testing period, the assembly must be sealed to maintain
the humidity in the test tube at 100%.
For appropriate comparison and evaluation of the
performances of the new proposed method, blank tests,
multiple tests run in parallel and comparative tests to the
standard Oddy test were set up for each type of metal
film at the same time.
The image-collecting
device designed for this study
includes the light source system, digital camera, image
collecting card, and computer. The schematic diagram of
the image collecting device is shown in Figure 1b. The
size of the enclosed box is 105 x 170 x 352 mm. The
sample is attached to a sample holder on the platform,
with an airtight case for shielding against the external
environment. Inside, the light box contains an adjustable
zonal light source with an intensity of 2400 lux. The
unit is equipped with a high-resolution color camera
with a Sony high-performance CCD sensor, which is
connected to a high-precision image-collecting card that
allows the fine adjustment of color, brightness, saturation
and contrast (more details on the image acquisition setup are provided in Appendix 1). This entire system is
utilized to collect the images of corroded metal films.
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system
Image-processing methods for determining

of corrosion on metal films
extent
The main steps to determine the extent of corrosion of the

metal ftIms are as follows: (1) image acquisition; (2) image
processing; (3) image segmentation; and (4) result output.
56 (2011)
PAGES
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Image acquisition: Use of an enclosed light

box to image the metal films after exposure to the
test overcomes issues created by reflections from the
metal films themselves and other inconsistencies that
would be generated if the films were imaged in an
open environment. The light box described previously,
on the other hand, provides a reproducible lighting
environment. The parameters for image acquisition are
as follows: the resolution of the acquired images is always
640 X 480 pixels, and the illumination is always kept at
2400 lux (for more details see Appendix 1). Once digital
images of the metal filins are acquired (the corrosion
area of the blank sample should be less than 10%),
they are pre-processed including image enhancement,
contrast enhancement, etc. (using commercial software
such as Photoshop). As the ability of the human eye
to distinguish color details is poorer than its ability to
distinguish the details of the brightness, images should
be transformed from the RGB color space to the YCbCr
luminance space for storage.
Image processing: The image acquired by the
camera contains the metal film image (that has a
circular shape) and corresponding background. Before
calculating the extent of corrosion of the metal filin, it is
necessary to separate the target image of the metal filin
from the background. Typically, the target image of the
metal filin, which is a closed circle, is different in color
from the background. Thus, the Sobel operator [13] and
the Hough transform [14] are introduced to achieve
automatic detection of the circular form (for more
details on these mathematical operators see Appendix 2).
Figures 2a and 2b show the image processing results
of the copper and silver filins, respectively. The results
verify that the image segmentation could be performed
effectively by automated detection and counting based
on the Hough transform. Both the target area of the
copper filin and that of silver ftlm in the images were
marked out accurately by the image-processing routine.
Image segmentation: The digital images of the
metal filins are converted to the YCbCr space, expressing
the three color values of each image as the luminance
component and the blue and red chroma components
respectively. Therefore, all changes in color of the metal
films are considered corrosion. Generally, the corrosion
spots scatter across the metal films in different sizes
and shapes. Furthermore,
the regions corroded by
offgassing from the test materials blend with the regions
without corrosion. Due to the 'cluster' -like property
of these corrosion regions, traditional methods, such as
threshold segmentation, edge detection and watershed
segmentation, always failed to detect and partition the
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141
Figure 2 Results of image segmentation with Hough transform leading

to successful automatic detection of the target area of.' (a) copper film; (b)
silver film; (c) silver film after exposure to 5 mm medium density fiberboard
(MDF); (d) same film as in (c) after image processing for the quantification of
corroded area (highlighted in green).
corrosion spots effectively. Cluster analysis, which groups

data into classes or clusters with objects of high similarity
in one cluster and objects of great differences in different
clusters, has great advantages for distinguishing the
regions with different features [15].
Among different algorithms of cluster analysis, such
as the K-means algorithm [16], CURE algorithm [17]
and ISODATA algorithm [18], the K-means clustering
method, which is an independently developed algorithm
based on data division, is adopted in the present study for
its automatic clustering function and its simplicity and
speed (more details in Appendix 2).
Figures 2c and 2d illustrate the application of the
image segmentation procedure to the evaluation of
corrosion in silver film tested with medium density
fiberboard (MDF; 5 mm thickness) for 14 days. Figure
2c shows the original image after the test and Figure 2d
is the same image after segmentation: corroded areas are
highlighted in green here to increase visibility.
The corroded area is then calculated as a percentage
of the total area of the metal flim: specifically it is 15.4%
for the case illustrated in Figures 2c and 2d, while
the remaining 84.6% corresponds to the unchanged
portion of the metal flim. Since the corroded area is less
than 20% in a silver flim, the material MDF has been
classifted a permanent (P) grade.
56 (2011)
PAGES
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142
S. WANG, L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU
Recording
of results and grading of materials
To validate the method, both the metal fum test and the
traditional Oddy test with metal coupons are conducted
in parallel. After the experiment,
the metal films are
removed from the test tube, compared with the control
metal fum and the comparative Oddy coupon. Digital
images are captured and visual observation by naked
eye is also performed at the same time. The materials are
then divided into three grades according to the results
obtained from the digital images collected of the metal
fums. These three grades are based on the corrosion level
of the standard Oddy test: permanent
(P), temporary
(T), and unsuitable (U). While these classes are defined
by visual observation in the traditional Oddy test, in our
work they are derived directly fron1 the percentage of
corroded area as calculated by the computer after digital
image processing.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 3 SEM images of metal films: (a) cross-section of silver film

over glass wafer,' (b) smooth and homogeneous surface of silver film; (c)
Metal films
cross-section of copper film over glass wafer; (d) vacuum packing of the
At first, various methods of metal fum preparation were

compared. The chemical preparation method based on
the well-known silver mirror reaction was tried first to
obtain metal films with a smooth surface. The resulting
silver film looked like the surface of a mirror when
observed through the glass wafer; however, the surface of
this flim is not smooth due to the random arrangement
of silver particles, and its color is yellowish-white
and
unevenly distributed. Obviously, such inhomogeneity
and uneven visual characteristics of the silver film made
this substrate unsuitable for the metal film test method.
On the other hand, the advanced physical method
of vacuum deposition
[9] proved successful for the
preparation of high-quality
metal films. SEM images
of the silver and copper fUrns prepared (Figures 3a, 3b
and 3c) show that the flim surfaces are smooth, and the
thickness of the silver and copper fums is uniform. These
results verified that the vacuum evaporation method can
be used.
In order to find the appropriate film thickness for the
metal fums used for the proposed test, a series of variables
was studied to optimize the preparation
conditions
including different amounts of metal: 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2
and 1.5 g silver or copper were used for producing
silver or copper film for 100 glass wafers with increasing
thickness. The thickness of the layers obtained, as well as
the homogeneity and compactness of film surface were
checked by SEM observation. The reactivity of the metal
film can be adjusted by changing the film thickness
STUDIES
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metal films. Please note that the dark horizontal line observed in (a) and (c)
represents the boundary between glass substrate and metal film.
so as to achieve results with the new test that are

comparable to those of the standard Oddy test for the
same display or storage material. The results indicated
that the reactivity of copper films with thickness lower
than 1000 nm or silver fums with thickness lower than
200 nm is too high and unsuitable for use in the metal
films test. In fact, metal films of such low thicknesses are
readily corroded in their entirety before the end of the
test period. Additionally, below these threshold thickness
levels the metal films are also easily corroded in air,
severely interfering with the test itself and assessment of
its results. Based on these criteria, optimized thicknesses
were set at 200 nm for silver (Figures 3a and 3b) and
1000 nm for copper fum (Figure 3c).
Storage of metal films
In order to prevent the silver and copper films from
premature corrosion in the air due to their high surface
activities,
the packaging
materials
and packaging
method of the silver and copper fIlms were studied. The
corrosion effects of different packaging materials on the
prepared metal films were investigated and compared
with the results of the traditional Oddy test. Figure 3d
shows the final packaging product selected, which uses
weighing paper (Shanghai Xitang Bio- Technology Co
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
AN IMPROVED
Ltd) to directly wrap around the metal fIlms and then

applies vacuum to them to seal the package.
To examine the metal flim stability during storage,
two pieces of vacuum-packed fIlms (silver or copper)
were chosen from each batch. One was unsealed and
then exposed in the open air at ambient temperature
and relative humidity conditions in the laboratory
throughout
the testing period. At given intervals
(typically every 4-5 days), its corrosion status was
measured. The other one was kept in the vacuum
packing. At given intervals, its corrosion area was
measured immediately after removal of the flim from the
sealed package, and then the fum was resealed in vacuum
for further stability testing. Triplicate experiments were
carried out for each metal flim.
Figure 4 shows the evolution in time of the corroded
areas of the silver and copper fums exposed in the air and
in vacuum. As can be seen from Figure 4, the corroded
areas of the vacuum-packed metal fums are almost the
same in 30 days (i.e. around 4%), while the corroded
areas of the metal films exposed in the air increase with
time up to approximately 20% for copper fums and 11%
for silver fums after 17 days.
It is worth noting that the control experiment must
be conducted each time, because the silver and copper
films typically undergo slight oxidization in the air
leading to observable corrosion. Additionally, in order
to increase accuracy of the results and reproducibility
of the test, parallel experiments are also set up. Each
experiment is performed twice to account for slight
differences in the metal fIlms, and then the digital images
~
vacuum package silver film
----...- exposed silver film
--.tIt- vacuum
package copper film
-Texposed copper film
30
25
20
~
co
-g
15
CODY TEST USING
METAL
FILMS
143
are collected and processed to ensure reliability of the

duplicate results.
Test Period
In order to determine an appropriate test period for
the new method, a series of comparative experiments
were designed using the traditional Oddy test method
as a benchmark. The metal fIlm test set-up makes it
possible to test the metal films and the traditional Oddy
test metal coupons at the same time and in the same
test tube. Three grades of test materials with different
corrosion effects on silver and copper are chosen; that is,
seriously corrosive, slightly corrosive, and non-corrosive.
The exposure periods of 3, 7, 10, 14 and 28 days are
designed for the comparative experiments under the
same conditions, comparing the test results with those of
the standard Oddy test. Figure 5 shows the comparison
of silver fIlms after different test periods with chipboard
for museum use as the test material. Although both
fIlms have some corrosion white spots and larger white
patches on their surface, and increasingly so for the metal
fIlm tested for 28 days, the corrosion area and color
change of the metal fums tested for 14 days are similar
to those of the traditional metal coupons after 28 days.
The degree and manner of corrosion of the two types of
fum appear the same under the naked eye.This has been
verifIed for several materials as detailed in Appendix 3.
Table 1 compares areas of corrosion as measured with
the metal fIlm test after 14 and 28 days of exposure. For
all ten materials listed, the corrosion percentages of the
28 days metal flims are greater than the 14 days. However,
the maximum increase in corrosion area measured
between the two different test periods was 4.82% for
copper fIlms and 3.39% for silver fIlms. Furthermore,
these increases do not affect the fInal grading of the
tested materials as obtained by the metal film test given
the large ranges assigned to each suitability category CP, T,
U), as described in the following.
g8
10
10
30
20
time (day)
Figure 4 Time evolution of the corrosion areas of the silver and copper
films exposed in the air and in vacuum.
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Figure 5
Comparison of silver film test results after different test periods
with chipboard for museum use: (a) 14 days; (b) 28 days.
56 (2011)
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144
S. WANG,
Table 1
Comparison of the results over different test periods
Materials
14 days
28 days
Corrosion percentage
Corrosion percentage
Copper film
Silver film
Copper film
Silver film
Chipboard for
museum
79.93%
11.79%
83.32%
13.34%
Calcium silicate
board
Fireproof plate
55.08%
10.77%
59,80%
11.79%
81.74%
47.62%
6.38%
31.80%
84.54%
51.56%
8.43%
34.45%
Purple covering
cloth
Blue tufted carpet
44.11%
72.78%
Blue fireproof
61.84%
54.12%
48.06%
61.99%
56.98%
93.92%
90.28%
15.39%
42.03%
95.54%
93.78%
45.09%
49.77%
40.86%
51.33%
43.46%
74.48%
36.58%
76.03%
39.97%
61.74%
48.62%
65,86%
50.63%
plate
5 mm MDF board
L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU
12 mm MDF
board
18 mm laminated
wood board
Blue fireproof
plate
Gypsum board
17.84%
classification
In order to establish corrosion classes for the metal film

test, a hundred different kinds of materials were tested
and sorted using the traditional Oddy test method.
After determining each materials' category (P, T, U),
quantitative tests with the metal f11mtest are performed
on the same set of materials and the correlation between
measured corrosion area with the metal film test and
the results of the traditional Oddy test is established
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Digital images of silver ftlms tested for 14 days: (a) blank; (b)
white wood; (c) wool felt.
74.55%
As an example, Figure 6 shows the results of exposure of

silver film to different materials (e.g. white wood, wool
felt) for 14 days. As shown in Figure 6a, the blank silver
flim can be slightly oxidized, and some tiny white spots
are formed on the surface. The silver film tested with
white wood shows some obvious white fog spots (Figure
6b), which are different from the corrosion affected by
wool felt. These examples demonstrate the sensitivity of
Inetal films, which can detect the effects of the corrosive
species or degradation products emitted directly from
the test materials due to their high surface area and high
reactivity in a reduced period of tim.e.
The most important contribution in the use of metal
films may be in the accelerated corrosion rate of films
and reduction in the test period. A large number of
experimental observations have further verified that
14 days as a test period for the metal film is feasible
(Appendix 3).
Corrosion
Figure 6
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for each material. This procedure allows establishm.ent

of general corrosion area percentage thresholds for the
metal film test. These thresholds are further verified
against traditional Oddy test methods to establish the
accuracy, tolerance, etc. of the metal film test. As a result
of such extensive testing, the following guidelines have
been established.
Grading of silver film:
P (permanent): free of obvious change and the film
has no color change con1pared with the control film;
corrosion area is smaller than 20%.
T (temporary): slight color change in the flim; with
corrosion area in the range 20-55%.
U (unsuitable): obvious change in color; the majority
of the test flim area is different from the control film;
corrosion area is larger than 55%.
Grading of copper film:
P (permanent): free of obvious change and the film
has no color change compared with the control film;
corrosion area is smaller than 35%.
T (temporary): slight color change in the film; with
corrosion area in the range 35-70%.
U (unsuitable): obvious change in color; the majority
of the test film area is different from the control film;
corrosion area is larger than 70%.
The different ranges of corrosion classification used
for silver and copper films are due to the fact that the
reactivity of copper is higher than that of silver, which
makes copper more easily corroded than silver, and
thus the thresholds for percentage of corrosion areas as
determined by comparison with the traditional Oddy
test tend to be larger.
Results of the metal film test for copper and silver
films tested with various materials are shown in Tables
2 and 3. The digitized image processing results of these
films are well aligned with those derived from the visual
56 (2011)
PAGES
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Table 2
Metal film test results for copper films exposed to various materials (the corrosion % shown is the average of three measurements)
Test Material
Grading
Corrosion
percentage
Standard
deviation
Large area of purple corrosion regions; serious corrosion

Large area of purple corrosion spots, moderate corrosion
53.63%
64.06%
6.81%
16.16%
Purple covering cloth
A large amount of dark specks of corrosion
Blue tufted carpet
The edge of film is lavender; large fog corrosion
50.14%
44.61%
12.61%
Blue fireproof plate
Large area of purple corrosion spots
5 mm MDF board
12 mm MDF board
U
U
T
T
T
Completely corroded
Completely corroded
18 mm laminated wood board

Gypsum board
Blank
Visual observation
Calcium silicate board

Fireproof plate
Table 3
145
51.63%
90.86%
88.94%
Large area of green and purple corrosion spots

Large area of green and purple corrosion spots
Large area of dark and purple spots
Dark corrosion spots
59.60%
67.14%
59.14%
10.60%
2.79%
8.84%
8.61%
3.28%
9.09%
7.07%
2.30%
2.77%
Metal film test results for silver films exposed to various materials (the corrosion % shown is the average of three measurements)
Test Material
Grading
Visual observation
Corrosion
Standard
percentage
deviation
Calcium silicate board

Fireproof plate
P
P
Have not changed basically

11.19%
14.74%
1.77%
10.65%
Purple covering cloth

Blue tufted carpet
5 mm MDF board
T
U
T
T
T
The film has small pieces of white fog corrosion

Most of film has a normal fog corrosion; white corrosion spots
The film has normal white fog corrosion spots
30.20%
65.37%
33.99%
The film edge has the dark white fog corrosion spots
The film has a normal white fog corrosion
27.66%
33.80%
34.06%
13.63%
16.68%
21.34%
11.31%
12 mm MDF board
15.25%
11.25%
18 mm laminated wood board

The film has deeper white fog corrosion spots
37.65%
7.40%
Gypsum board
35.69%
11.24%
9.05%
1.31%
Blank
observations of the traditional Oddy test. Even if the

metal film is seriously corroded or even completely
corroded, the digitized image process can still classify the
coupons according to their degree of corrosion. Sources
of error can be the corrosion experiments themselves
or outside noise during image acquisition. However,
running experiments in triplicate allows such errors to
be quantified, and in general the agreement of parallel
experiments is approximately 90%.
Ultimately, if the results of parallel experiments are
very different from each other, it is necessary to repeat
the tests. If two results of the parallel experiments are
still not the same, it becomes necessary to assign the test
material to the worse grade in order to avoid causing any
potential damage to the artifacts. In other words, if the
results of the parallel experiments were bet\veen P and T,
the chosen grade would be T. If the results \vere between
T and U, the chosen grade \vould be U.
Comparison of the results
More than 100 materials, including complex board,
natural timber, fabric, packing materials, plastics, glue and
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paint, were tested and evaluated using copper and silver

films, and the corresponding traditional Oddy tests for
comparison also were conducted. A relationship between
the traditional Oddy test and the variant test method
has been established through comparing the result of
each test material with that of the traditional Oddy test
method. A large amount of data including the measured
data of corrosive tests of metal films and comparative
results was obtained.
The above-mentioned materials have been evaluated
by the metal film test method, and the agreement
of parallel experiments testing the same material in
triplicate is higher than 90%. The same materials have
also been simultaneously tested using the standard Oddy
test procedure [19]. Comparing with the results of the
traditional Oddy test method, 70% of the new test results
using the metal films procedure were in agreement with
those of the traditional Oddy tests (Appendix 3).
A statistical analysis of the dataset was also carried
out according to the work of Robinet and Thickett [6].
The differences in results for the 100 materials tested
between the metal film test and the standard Oddy
test were calculated. The root mean square deviation
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
146
(RMSD) statistic was used as a measure of the overall

level of agreement for tests on a specific metal.
RMSD=~L;~di2
where di is the difference between the metal film test
result and the standard Oddy test result in our study, n is
the number of tests on materials reported above.
The lower the RMSD, the better is the agreement
among a set of results. For the calculations, the numerical
transformations of the categories were altered, with P=O,
T=2 and U=4. The differences of RMSD between the
metal film test and standard test for 100 materials are
0.92 for silver and 1.04 for copper, respectively. The
RMSD is higher for copper, indicating less agreement
for this metal than for silver.This may be because of the
higher reactivity of the copper film and the tendency
of copper films to present more complicated corrosion
phenomena.
CONCLUSION
A variant to the traditional Oddy test method that
reduces the length of the test period and judges
the results of corrosion by digital image processing
is described here. The faster (14-day) method for
evaluation of materials uses an experimental procedure
similar to that of the standard Oddy test, but uses metal
films as substitutes for traditional metal coupons and
digital image processing for objective evaluation of
the corrosive grades of materials to replace the more
subjective visual observation of the traditional Oddy
test. The new method also simplifies the experimental
operations and procedures because metal films can
be used directly without the polishing and washing
required for traditionally used metal coupons. Still,
it remains cost-effective as the amount of metal in a
traditional copper coupon can be used to produce
approximately 300 copper films, and one silver coupon
would produce as many as 800 silver films. Results
indicate that the digitized metal films method presented
in this paper provides comparable results to those of
the standard Oddy test for assessment of the display
and storage materials when parallel experiments are
performed on the same materials. Importantly though,
this method features a shorter experimental period for
the majority of the metal films. While the metal film
method has been shown to perform well on over 100
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materials tested, it is worth mentioning that when the

metal film is seriously corroded the digital evaluation of
the percentage of corroded areas can incur some errors.
Future work will aim at minimizing such errors as well
as incorporating such factors as the corrosion depth and
color (not only corrosion area) for the determination of
the suitability of materials for use in display, storage and
transportation of cultural heritage artifacts.
APPENDIX 1: PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF
THE IMAGE COLLECTING SYSTEM
Details of the image acquisition set-up are provided in
Tables 4-7.
Table 4
Light source performance parameters
Item
Specification
Airtight enclosed light box, size (L x W x H)

Light box pedestal, size (L x W x H)
105 x 170 x 352 mm

150 x 220 x 4 mm
Light source type
Shell type white LED

annular light
Light source maximum intensity
2400 lux
140mm
The distance between light source and test

sample
Table 5
Image performance parameters
Item
Specification
Image size
640 x 480 pixels
Image format
.bmpfile
150-160
Image average gradation after adjustment of

light source
Table 6
Camera performance parameters
Item
Specification
Type
Color HD industrial camera

752 x 582 pixels
CCD sensor DPI

Target face size
1/3
Minimum illumination
Table 7
0.3 lux
Image-collecting card performance parameters
Item
Specification
Image collecting DPI
768 x 576 pixels
Maximum display DPI
1024 x 768 pixels
Collecting speed
25 frame/s
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
APPENDIX 2: DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE

SOFTWARE USED FOR THIS WORK
Sobel operator and Hough transform for the

automatic detection of circular forms
At first, the Sobel operator used an edge detection
algorithm to process the image and a crude edge of
the target circle was obtained. The Sobel operator is
technically a discrete differentiation operator, computing
an approximation of the gradient of the image intensity
function. At each point in the image, the result of the
Sobel operator is either the corresponding gradient
vector or the norm of this vector. Mathematically, the
operator uses two 3 x 3 kernels which are convolved
with the original image to calculate approximations of
the derivatives - one for horizontal changes, and one for
the vertical. If A is defined as the source image, and Gx
and Gy are two images which at each point contain the
horizontal and vertical derivative approximations, the
computations are as follows:
~ ~]*A
-2
and
-1
~o =~]*
147
where, for example, e is 0 for a vertical edge which is

darker on the left side.
However, due to imperfections in either the image
data or the Sobel operator, there may be missing
points or pixels on the desired curves as well as spatial
deviations between the ideal circle and the noisy edge
points as they are obtained from the Sobel operator. Thus
the Sobel operator simply represents a pre-processing
stage to obtain image points or image pixels that are on
the desired curve in the image space. Following this, the
Hough transform is introduced to address this problem
by making it possible to group edge points into object
candidateb by performing an explicit voting procedure
over a set of parameterized image objects. For a circle
with radius r and center (a, b), this can be described with
the parametric equations:
x = a + rcos(B)
and
y = b + rsin(B)
For the target circles of the metal film, the radius r is a

constant. When the angle sweeps through the full 360
range, the points (x, y) trace the perimeter of a circle.
And the locus of (a, b) points in the parameter space will
fall on the circle of radius r centered at (x, y) inevitably.
The true center point will be common to all parameter
circles, and can be found with a Hough accumulation
array obtained by the Sobel operator. After incrementing
all (a, b) points in the accumulator array for each edge
point, the local maxima in the accumulator array will
correspond to the true center of the circle in the image.
-1
K -means clustering
segmentation
where * here denotes the 2-dimensional convolution

operation.
The x-coordinate is here defined as increasing in
the 'right' -direction, and the y-coordinate is defined
as increasing in the 'down' -direction. At each point in
the image, the resulting gradient approximations can be
combined to give the gradient magnitude, using:
G=~G2+G2
x
algorithm
For all pixels (Xl' x2' ... , x,) observed on the circular
metal film image, the K-means algorithm will partition
the 11 observations into K sets (K < 11) S= {S l' S2' ... , SK}
so as to minimize the within-cluster sum of squares:
where J.1 is the mean of points in St

For the assigned clustering number K, an initial
division will be established randomly by the K-means
clustering algorithm, and then the cluster centers will be
changed by iterative repetition to improve the divisions.
In detail, the K-means algorithm needs firstly to choose
the number of clusters K. In this paper, the K is set as 2.
The algorithm will establish K clusters at random and
j
Using this information, the gradient's direction can also

be calculated:
e = arctan(Gy/G
x)
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for image
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
148
directly generate K random points as cluster centers.

Then every point will be assigned to the nearest cluster
center, and the new centers will have to be recomputed.
After assigning each point and recomputing the new
centers repeatedly, some convergence criterion will be
met; in general, the assignment will not change.
TableS
APPENDIX 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE METAL

FILM TEST AND THE ODDY TEST
The metal film test has been compared with the Oddy
test for several materials. The results are presented in
Table 8.
Comparison between the metal film test (14 days) and the Oddy test (28 days) for 100 materials (P: permanent; T: temporary; U: unsuitable)
Material type
Serial
Manufacturer/sample source
Brand
Medium
density
fiberboard
2
3
4
5
6
7
Metal film test
Model/ specification
method corrosion
evaluation
number
Shanghai Zhixiang Construction and

Decoration Co Ltd
Dehua Group Holding Co Ltd.
Shanghai Jintu Wood Industry Co
Ltd
Plantation Timber Products Group
Plantation Timber Products Group
Shanghai Yihuang Wood Product
Co Ltd
Shanghai Yihuang Wood Product
Silver
Copper
films
films
Oddy test method

corrosion evaluation
Silver
Copper
Zhixiang
12 mm/EO
TUBAO
Jintu
12 mm/E1
5 mm/E1
P
P
T
P
P
P
P
P
PTP
PTP
Yihuang Daya
5 mm/E1
12 mm/E1
12 mm/E1
P
T
P
U
U
T
T
T
P
U
U
T
Yihuang Daya
18 mm/EO
Co Ltd
Plywood
Langfang New Sitong Wood Co Ltd
Sanli Sitong
5 mm/E1
Shanghai Jintu Wood Industry Co
Jintu
9 mm/E1
10
11
12
13
Ltd
Dehua Group Holding Co Ltd
Nantong Zongyi Plywood Co Ltd
Shanghai Chang mao Plywood
TUBAO
Zongyi
TUBAO
TUBAO
3
5
5
5
T
U
U
T
5 mm/E1
P
P
P
P
P
T
T
T
T
Changmao
P
P
P
P
P
Zhixiang
9 mm/E1
14
mm/E1
mm/E1
mm/E1
mm/EO
Co Ltd
15
Shanghai Zhixiang Construction and

Decoration Co Ltd
Core board
16
Langfang New Sitong Wood Co Ltd
Sanli Sitong
3 mm/E1
17
18
Shanghai Wood Co Ltd
Jintu
Fu Shan
18 mm/E1
18 mm/E1
P
P
P
T
P
P
P
T
Gansenwang
18 mm/E1
PengHong
18 mm/E1
19
20
Songyang County Greenfield Wood

Co Ltd
Jiangxi Chongyi County Xinfeng
Wood-based Panel Plant
Dalian Penghong Wood Product
Co Ltd
Wood
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Red Oak
Malaysian Koompassia Malaccensis
Tectona grandis
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
U
T
U
T
U
U
T
T
U
P
T
T
P
P
P
U
U
T
P
T
P
P
P
T
Beech (Fagus)
Tetrameristaceae
Betula alnoides Buch-Ham
Basswood
Elms
WhiteWood
White Pine
Camphorwood
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56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
Table 8
(Continued)
Material type
Fabric
149
Serial
number
32
Brand
Modell specification
Zhejiang Wanyou Industry & Trade
Metal film test

method corrosion
evaluation
Silver
Copper
films
films
Linen
Oddy test method

Silver
Copper
Co Ltd
Sealant
33
34
Shenzhen Creek Co
Linen
Shengchun Fabric (Agent)
Purple cotton
35
Henkel Adhesives Co Ltd
Henkel Sista
36
Henkel Sista
Neutral silicone sealant

(white)
(translucent)
37
Henkel Sista
Construction adhesive
glue (PL50)
38
Henkel Sista
Construction adhesive
glue (PL60)
39
Shanghai Zhengnian New Building
40
Materials Co Ltd
Royal Carpenter
based sealant (white)

Royal Carpenter
Henkel Metylan
Multifunctional waterbased sealant (light

gray)
Multifunctional waterbased sealant (black)
High-grade gap filling
GE
glue (white)
Silicone I 100% anti-
Materials Co Ltd
41
42
43

Materials Co Ltd
US General Electric Co Ltd
Multifunctional water-
Royal Carpenter
mold silicone (acidic

transparent)
44
General Electric Co Ltd
GE
MAX 5000 Waterbased anti-mildew

sealant (transparent)
45
GE
Silicone II 100% antimold silicone (neutral

and transparent)
46
Shanghai Qianru Industrial

Development Co Ltd
Development Co Ltd
GE Toshiba Silicones Shanghai
Senge
Neutral anti-mold glue

(ceramic white)
Neutral anti-mold glue
(transparent)
47
48
Senge
B&Q

(transparent)
B&Q
Acid silicone sealant
Co Ltd
49
50

Co Ltd
Momentive Silicone Material
(Shanghai) Co Ltd
Co Ltd
Dow Corning
Dow Corning
(white)
B&Q
3M China Ltd
3M

(transparent)
(transparent)
7091 (black)
791
800
55
56
3M China Ltd
Guangdong Ou Liya Chemical Co
Ltd
3M
Ou Liya
1252
Neutral
P
P
T
T
T
P
T
T
57
GE
Anti-mold silicone
(100%)
58
59
Selleys Pty Ltd

Selleys Pty Ltd
Selleys
Selleys
Selleys (clean)
Selleys all clean seals
U
U
P
U
U
U
51
52
53
54
B&Q
Dow Corning
Dow Corning
out water
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56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
P
P
P
T
T
T
T
P
P
T
T
P
150 S. WANG, L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU
TableB
(Continued)
Material type
Serial
number
Brand
Model/ specification
Metal film test
Oddy test method
method corrosion
evaluation
Silver
Copper
films
films
Silver
Copper
60
GE
Total effects antibacterial SPS 7000
61
Japan Sharp Chemical Ind Co Ltd
Sharpie
62
63
64
3M China Ltd
3M China Ltd
3M China Ltd
5962
U
U
U
U
U
T
3M China Ltd
T
P
T
T
P
P
65
3M
3M
3M
3M
Anti-mold weather
resistance neutral
silicone
4905
4910
5952
T
T
U
T
66
3M China Ltd
3M China Ltd
3M
300lse
VHB
U
T
3M
U
T
1687 wood lacquer

Gold package
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
67
Paint
68
Langfang Nippon Paint Co Ltd
Nippon
69
CI Swire Paints (Shanghai) Co Ltd
Dulux
70
Langfang Nippon Paint Co Ltd
Nippon
71
72
PPG Industries Inc

New Opel Chemical (Shanghai)
Co Ltd
Dashi
Oulong
73
Ivy (Shanghai) Chemical Co Ltd
Ivy
lacquer
Polyester paint suit
7mm
7mm
P
P
King Bound
Sealing joint strip 74

75
Shenzhen Creek Co
Shanghai Kingbond Chemical Co
waterproof white paint

Ordorless total effects
interior wall latex paint
Super weather
resistance wood
Ltd
Surface fireproof 76
77
78
Italy Abet Co
Italy Abet Co
Shanghai Hopewell Building
Materials Co Ltd
Print
Print
Bolliya
Green
Blue
Blue
P
P
P
T
T
T
P
P
P
T
T
T
79
Shanghai Hopewell Building
Bolliya
Blue (made to order)
board
Materials Co Ltd
Carpet
80
Suzhou Tuntex Fiber & Carpet Co
Tuntex
Blue
81
Ltd
Brijing Huade Huipu Blanket
Wallpaper Co
Huipu
Blue
83
Gypsum Board (Saint-Gobain)

Shanghai Lafarge Gypsum Building
Material Co Ltd
Deko
Lafarge
12mm
9.5mm
P
P
P
U
P
P
P
T
Calcium silicate 84
Tairong Building Materias (Suzhou)
Qiaotian
6mm
board
Co Ltd
6mm
P
P
T
P
T
P
6mm
Gypsum board
82
85
86
Ningbo Yihe Green Board Co Ltd

Jiangsu Taixing Linjiang Composite
Yihe
Polaroid Factory
Cardboard
87
88
Shanghai Jinzhan Paper Co., Ltd.

Laizhou Hongli Paper Products
Jin Zhan
Hong Li
U
P
U
U
U
P
U
T
89
Co Ltd
Smurfit Kappa Cardboard
(Netherlands)
Smurfit Kappa
STUDIES
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56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
Table 8
151
(Continued)
Material type
Serial
Brand
Modell specification
number
Metal film test
Oddy test method
method corrosion
evaluation
Fireproof paint
90
91
Shanghai Xinhua Fire Inhibitor

Factory
Shanghai Zhong nan Building
Silver
films
Copper
films
Silver
Copper
Qiu Dun
B60-2
Zhong Nan
Zn-1
Museum dedicated
10mm
9mm
Materials Co
92
Shanghai Zhong nan Building

Materials Co
PVC board
93
PVC Board (rigid PVC free foam
sheet)
94
Others
PVC Board (PVC free foam sheet)
95
Fujian Zhongchai PVC Pipe Co Ltd
Zhongchai
PVC pipe wire
96
97
Foshan Rifeng Enterprise Co Ltd

Development Co
Rifeng
Senge
PPR water pipe

Gap filler
P
U
P
P
T
T
98
Shanghai Zhong-Ren Industrial

Co Ltd
Zhong-Ren
Powder glue
99
Shanghai Bo Rui Building Material
KEN
Composite wood
100
Co Ltd
Shanghai Tang Ying Chemical Paint
Tang Ying
flooring adhesive
Thick white paint
Co Ltd
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the National
Key Technology
R&D Program of China (No.
2006BAK20BO 1-3).
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AUTHORS
SHENGWANG received a Bachelor's Degree in electronic
engineering from the University of Central Lancashire,
UK, in 2005, and obtained his Master's Degree in
advanced electronic engineering at the University of
Warwick, UK, in 2007. He is now a PhD student in
environmental
science at Fudan University, China.
He worked with some projects in digital image processing from 2003 to 2007, such as: digital watermark,
fingerprint
recognition,
digital image compression
and neural network design. Since 2007 he also has
researched methods for evaluating materials used in
storage and display cases in museums. Address: Department
of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University,
220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, R R. China. Email:
081047001@fudan.edu.cn
LINGDONG KONG graduated
in 2005 from Fudan
University
with a Doctor's
Degree in physical
chemistry. In the same year, he joined the Department
of Environmental
Science and Engineering,
where
he is currently working as a researcher, studying the
heterogeneous chemistry between aerosol and sulfurcontaining compounds and field investigation. He also
has a continuing interest in problems associated with
display and storage materials, and other environmental
concerns. Address: as Mlczng.Email: ldkong@fudan.edu.cn
ZHISHENG AN graduated from the Department
of
Geology, Nanjing University, China in 1962 and
from the Geo-Chemistry Institute, Geologic Institute,
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xian, China
as postgraduate in 1966; mainly in research of global
environmental change, atmospheric particulate pollution

control, quaternary geologic and global change. In
1991 he was elected to be the academician of the CAS.
He is a member of the editorial board of Quaternary
Science Reviews, Director of Shaanxi Ecological Society,
Vice Chairman of Shaanxi Association of Sciences,
member of the leading group and head of experts group
of Shaanxi 'Beautiful Mountains and Hills Project'
and environmental consultant to Xi'an City. Address:
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
10 Fenghui South Road, Xi'an High- Tech Zone, Xi' an,
710075, P R. China. Email: anzs@loess.llqg.ac.cn
JIANMINCHEN received a PhD from the Department of
Chemistry at Fudan University in July 1993. He started
his research and teaching careers as a faculty member in
the Chemistry Department of the University. He visited
Tokyo University, Japan and Osaka University, Japan in
1995 as a research fellow. He worked with Professors
Irving Wender and John WTierney in the Department of
Petroleum and Chemical Engineering in the University
of Pittsburgh, USA, from March 1996 to April 1997 as a
visiting professor. Professor Chen joined the Department
of Environmental Science and Engineering at Fudan
University in 1997. His research interests are on aerosol
heterogeneous chemistry and cleaner production. Address:
as Mlczng.Email: jmchen@fudan.edu.cn
LAIMINGWu has a Bachelor's Degree in molding
technology
and equipment
(1984) from Shanghai
Second Polytechnic University, China. He is presently
the Vice Director of the Research Laboratory for
Conservation and Archaeology of Shanghai Museum,
China and also the Vice Director of Key Scientific
Research Base of the Museum Environment
(State
Administration for Cultural Heritage), Shanghai, China.
He engaged in researching metal technology of ancient
China after entering Shanghai museum in 1984 and he
has also been studying the environmental conservation
of artifacts since 1999. Address: Key Scientific Research
Base of the Museum Environment, State Administration for
Cultural Heritage, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 200050, P
R. China. Email: lymanwuc@online.sh.cn
XINGUANGZHOU received a Bachelor's Degree in life
science from Fudan University in 2002, and obtained
his Master Degree in environmental science in 2006.
From September 2006, he worked in the Research
Laboratory
for Conservation
and Archaeology
of
Shanghai Museum and also the Key Scientific Research
Base of the Museum Environment (State Administration
STUDIES IN CONSERVATION
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153
AN IMPROVED
for Cultural Heritage).

His research interests are
environmental
conservation
of artifacts, insecticide
ODDY TEST USING
and mildew-proofing
Email:zxg628@yahoo.com.cn
of artifacts.
METAL
FILMS
Address:
153
as Wu.
Resume - Le test addy est lHl essai accelere de corrosion utilise par les musees pour evahler la pertinence des materiaux
proposes pour gamir ou confecti01l11er les vitrines d'exposition et de stockage. Le test standard addy necessite une periode d'essai
de 28 jours, et les resultats sont evalues par observation visuelle. Cet article decrit une methode d'essai amelioree, ce qui pourrait
reduire la duree du test de moitie. La meilleure methode utilise des films metalliques comme substituts aux coupons traditionnels
de metal representant un substitut d'objet d'art. Les resultats du nouvel essai sont ensuite evalues par ordinateur grace a un
traitement d'image numerique pour une selection plus objective de materiaux moins corrosifs.
Zusammenfassung - Del' addy-ust
ist eitl {beschleunigter { Korrosionstest, del' in Museen zur Evaluation del' Eignung von
Materialien angewendet wird, die in Vitrinen lmd bei A lifbewaJmmgskiisten zum Einsatz kommen. Del' Standard-addy-ust
verlangt 28-tiigige ustperioden, deren Ergebnisse durch visuelle Beobachtlmg optisch ausgewertet werden. In diesem Artikel wird
eine verbesserte ustmethode vorgestellt, die die fiir die Untersuchlmg eiforderliche Zeit um die Hiilfte reduzierel1 konnte. Die
verbesserte Methode 11lltzt Metalifilme als Ersatz fiir die tradition ellen l\1etallcoupons, die als Surrogate fiir KlHlstobjekte dienen.
Die neuen ustergebnisse werde1'1am Computer mittels digitaler Bildverarbeitung ausgewertet, lHl1 so eille objektivere Auswahl aus
weniger korrosiven Materialien treffen zu kon1'1en.
Resumen - EI test de addy es una prueba de corrosio1'1{{acelerada" empleada en museos para evaluar los materiales apropiados
a utilizar en lugares de exposicion y de almacenamie1'1to. El habitual test de addy requiere un periodo de prueba de 28 d{as,
y los resultados han de ser valorados visualmente. Este articulo describe una variacioll mejorada de este metodo, la cual permite
reducir la duraciotz de la prueba a la mitad. El metodo mejorado utiliza pe[{culas metalicas en vez de los cup01'1es tradicionales
actuando como {{sustitutos del objeto artlstico". Los nuevos resultados del test son evaluados a conti11lwcioll mediante procesado de
image1'1 digital computerizado para una seleccion mas objetiva de los materiales me1'1OScorrosivos.
STUDIES
IN CONSERVATION
56 (2011)
PAGES
138-153

An Improved Oddy Test Using Metal Films

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Studies in Conservation

ISSN: 0039-3630 (Print) 2047-0584 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ysic20

An Improved Oddy Test Using Metal Films

Published online: 19 Jul 2013.

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Date: 04 April 2016, At: 13:47

An Improved Oddy Test Using

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Sheng Wang, Lingdong Kong, Zhisheng An,]ianmin Chen, Laimin Wu

materials used in museums. Generally, traditional testing

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AN IMPROVED ODDY TEST USING METAL FILMS

greatly simplifies the test, and reduces the preparation

collection of a large number of successful experiments

Metal films are prepared by the vacuum evaporation

L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU

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small glass tube

While the general test procedure used. is that of the

Image-processing methods for determining

The main steps to determine the extent of corrosion of the

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AN IMPROVED ODDY TEST USING METAL FILMS

Image acquisition: Use of an enclosed light

Figure 2 Results of image segmentation with Hough transform leading

corrosion spots effectively. Cluster analysis, which groups

S. WANG, L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU

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of results and grading of materials

Figure 3 SEM images of metal films: (a) cross-section of silver film

At first, various methods of metal fum preparation were

so as to achieve results with the new test that are

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Ltd) to directly wrap around the metal fIlms and then

CODY TEST USING

are collected and processed to ensure reliability of the

Comparison of silver film test results after different test periods

with chipboard for museum use: (a) 14 days; (b) 28 days.

Comparison of the results over different test periods

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L. KONG, Z. AN, J. CHEN, L. WU AND X. ZHOU

In order to establish corrosion classes for the metal film

white wood; (c) wool felt.

As an example, Figure 6 shows the results of exposure of

for each material. This procedure allows establishm.ent

AN IMPROVED ODDY TEST USING METAL FILMS

Large area of purple corrosion regions; serious corrosion

Purple covering cloth

A large amount of dark specks of corrosion

Blue tufted carpet

The edge of film is lavender; large fog corrosion

Blue fireproof plate

Large area of purple corrosion spots

18 mm laminated wood board

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Calcium silicate board

Large area of green and purple corrosion spots

Calcium silicate board

Have not changed basically

Purple covering cloth

The film has small pieces of white fog corrosion