ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Some of the main threats of a museum collection are humidity and pollutants, whose synergic combination may trigger chemical reactions on the materials surface, giving rise to alteration or degradation processes. Other sources affecting the conservation arise from the protection treatments applied upon the materials surface, from the showcases materials and from the Heritage items in themselves, when stored together or exhibited simultaneously in the same limited space. An assessment of the exhibited collection of the Museo Naval (Madrid, Spain), as well as some storage places has been carried out under different meteorological conditions to point out the influence of the annual stations on the air quality, in terms of the environmental pH measured by means of optical sensors. Likewise, the appearance of alteration products upon some metallic items conserved in showcases has been monitored after the application of surface treatments supposedly conservative. The chemical nature and the evolution of such alteration products have been analyzed and attributed to the interaction and synergic effect of the materials of both the showcases and the Heritage items, under the reactivity of some of the substances contained in protection coats. The research results obtained allowed the recommendation of simple and inexpensive strategies to correct the effect of pollutants and reactive substances, in an effort to attain environmental stability both inside showcases and in hall exhibition spaces of the Museo Naval.
