Workshop ResWiMet - Development of a Modular Concept for the Restorative Cleaning of Weathering Layers

Tower clocks are part of our culture and have been widely used since the Middle Ages. However, their poorly protected installation sites often caused surface weathering and corrosion. For restoration or conservation, it is sometimes necessary to treat the specifically aged surfaces appropriately. The vacuum suction blasting process offers interesting possibilities for this. In a joint project funded by the DBU together with the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD), the potentials, limits and necessary development requirements for the application of this process in the restoration of metal objects are currently being investigated.

The project examined the fundamentals for an innovative, modular and hand-guided tool that can remove hard encrustations and corrosion products in a way that is gentle on the material, while at the same time allowing the conservator to constantly monitor the areas to be cleaned.

In the workshop, the results of extensive parameter investigations and cleaning tests were presented in Dresden on June 5, 2023. Based on the practical results, an outlook on the development of a mobile cleaning tool was presented. In addition, further areas of application as well as possibilities and limits for use in restoration were discussed together with the participants on the basis of the practical demonstration of the process on the existing experimental setup.

More information can be found here: https://www.fep.fraunhofer.de/en/events/ResWiMet.html