Is the Pest Spreading, or What?

[Stahlhelm]

Hello everyone:

I'm not sure if it's just me, coincidence, the right timing for it's eventual emergence, or something else entirely. However, it seems that I'm seeing the dreaded zinc pest more and more often these days. Tt seems that the majority of zinc badges, awards, medals, etc. I've seen wherever lately have been infected with the pest somewhere, obverse and/or reverse, a little or a lot.

Again, maybe it's just getting to the point in history (60+ years later) when most Third Reich era zinc becomes exponentially more and more susceptible. Or again, maybe it's just that I've seen more and more of these offered for sale lately in this condition, at least by coincidence.

At this point, we can, of course, still carefully select pieces which have remained unaffected. We can still avoid the affected ones, and collect only the remaining healthy specimens out there. However, I see a point soon enough, when we will no longer have such a luxury. Whereas we often avoid them now, soon enough, we may be just as happy to find one that still exists at all. Soon enough, it will not be an issue of whether or not a piece has the pest, but rather how much of the pest it does have. Acceptable levels of a terminal disease may be necessary to continue collecting at all.

Chris

[SurvivingPanzer]

Two words:

Global Warming.

[WhitePhantom]

Being a very new collector i have noticed you cant find mint EKII's or EKI's. Since it is the msot popular of the nazi militaria i would assume you could find mint pieces flaoting around. Most of them have rust or missing black paint. With so many given out i kinda hoped they could still be found in extremely good condition.

[Paul R.]

Chris.. Yes, Over the past few years. I have become more aware of some of the zinc, and zinc composition medals starting to show the ugly pest. As I have said before as time marches foward so does the pest. You never know what medal will show the pest next or if any will. I hate to say it. It's like that Russian roulette game. The best advice is to keep the humidity in line, keep affected ones isolated, and don't apply anything to them. Let the conservation people work on a possible solution if any. Paul

[Rich Moran]

You have to understand the nature of zinc to understand why this occurs.

Zinc in itself is a sacrifical material and is subject to environmental whims. When applied to other metals, the flow of corrosion from that metal is moved to the zinc. The zinc permits an easier path for electrons to flow over, thus in that process consumes itself as the energy needs a source of fuel.

The white you see is the spent energy and as it builds up eating the zinc below the spent fuel, the deposits then move along the edge of the consumed coating continuing to leave the deposits.

Reducing oxygen or eleminating it is the best recourse, by doing so you are eliminating moisture as both are required for cororison to have its way.

The next best solution are thin film cororson inhbitors, designed to isolate and/or attach themselves to the anode and cathode of the metals involved and slow the rate of corrosion.

The benifit of correct choice of thin film inhbitors means that reversing the process is not required, as there is a window of performance. All that is required is to stopp applying the inhbitor to the metal and time will again move beyond the inhbitors ability to be seen and finally then the rate of corrosion slowly rises to where it was prior to treatments.

You can do a search here:

www.corrosioncops.com

It is my primary business for corrosion control.

[Stahlhelm]

Thanks, Rich:

That's a very thorough and scientific explanation of the pest, its causes, and possible cures (regardless of how temporary and conditional such cures may be). Thanks for the informative link too. The more information we all know about this stuff, the better.

Chris

[Stahlhelm]

Paul:

You're absolutely right! "As time marches on," it does only make sense that more and more such metal illnesses will emerge. Let's just hope they don't become an epidemic--at least not anytime soon!

Chris

[Paul R.]

Thanks Chris and Rich. Rich great info. You put the info together well. Paul

[bobcam1]

Thanks Chris and Rich. Rich great info. You put the info together well. Paul

Paul,
Put.....a.....book.....together.....)

Bob.

[Stahlhelm]

Paul,
Put.....a.....book.....together.....)

Bob.

Yes, I agree that a book would be a great idea, Paul! You should do that. You certainly have all the necessary knowledge and information to include. Also, as far as I know, there is no other such book currently out there. So, you've already got the market cornered too.

Chris