Shipwrecks and Salvage > 7. Conservation >
Describe the processes that occur when a saturated solution evaporates and relate this to the potential damage to drying artefacts
- When a solution of a solid is evaporated, the solution becomes more concentrated until it reaches saturation.
- Saturated Solution: A solution of a substance in which no more of that particular substance can dissolve.
- When a saturated solution is evaporated, the dissolved solid begins to crystallise until only the solid remains.
- When an artefact from a long-submerged wreck is dried, this crystallisation process occurs.
- The formation of salt crystals throughout porous artefacts can cause considerable damage in two main ways:
- Distorting and cracking artefacts.
- Reacting chemically with artefacts.
- Impregnated salts need to be removed from artefacts before they are dried in order to prevent damage.
