Treating copper and copper alloy artifacts afflicted with bronze disease remains highly important in the field of cultural heritage conservation. Doing so on remote archaeological
sites poses particular challenges, especially with regard to sustainability. Existing methods
of treating bronze disease using corrosion inhibitors may pose risks to the environment and
to the user. The need for to develop sustainable practices is paramount across disciplines.
This thesis will investigate propolis as a more sustainable option for the treatment of bronze
disease on pre-corroded copper alloy coupons. Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction
Spectroscopy revealed that clinoatacamite and other copper chloride hydroxides were formed
on the copper alloy coupons during pre-corrosion. Scanning Electron Microscopy was used
to observe differences between the surface morphology of untreated and inhibitor treated
pre-corroded coupons. Lastly, weight change experiments were conducted to assess the
inhibitor efficiency of propolis on pre-correded copper alloy coupons. The results in this
study do not indicate that an 100 ppm inhibitor solution of propolis is affective at inhibiting
bronze disease; however, the hypothesis that propolis may demonstrate efficacy at higher
concentrations should be tested in future studies.