In situ evaluation of corrosion damage using non-destructive electrochemical measurements—A case study

[Display omitted] •A case study is presented on the root cause of corrosion damage to a metal sculpture.•Non-destructive electrochemical methods were adopted for investigation in the field.•Analytical methods were applied in the laboratory on the samples collected from field.•Role of contamination, UV degradation and moisture has been discussed. Field application of electrochemical measurements with a non-invasive electrode arrangement has been used for investigating corrosion damage and protectiveness of a paint coating on an artwork sculpture. For this field application solid state probes were designed and used in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical noise measurement (ENM) to evaluate the level of corrosion protection afforded by the paint coating. Samples were also analyzed in laboratory using analytical techniques. Results of electrochemical measurements indicated poor protective properties of the paint coating while analytical examinations revealed an inhomogeneous structure of the coating and a highly porous structure of the oxide scale.