Atmospheric corrosion of copper in Ibero-America

Within the framework of the American Map of Atmospheric Corrosiveness (MICAT) project, 4 years of field research on atmospheric corrosion carried out in 14 countries of Ibero-America, this paper reports atmospheric copper corrosion in 21 unpolluted rural atmospheres and 45 marine atmospheres covering a broad interval of climatic conditions. High temperatures and relative humidities seem to promote greater copper corrosion in rural atmospheres; attack rates are found in the range of 0.1 mum/y to 2 mum/y, and corrosion product layers, generally comprising only cuprite (Cu2O), are discontinuous and have open structures with patinas acquiring increasingly darker colors (from salmon pink to dull brown) with exposure time. From the results obtained at marine sites, a critical deposition rate threshold is inferred for atmospheric salinity (20 mgCl(-)/m(2) per day), after which the atmospheric corrosion of this material is intensified.