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[...] For conservation, each particle is bound to molecules of porphyrin, which will in turn bind to free iron ions in the wood, catching them before they can react to form damaging acid. That whole package is coated in a polymer that responds to changes in temperature; at around 22⁰C, the composite is a thick gel. With a slight dip in temperature, the polymer becomes a liquid, which soaks into the wood and carries the nanoparticles with it. Conservators can use magnetic fields to steer the composite to the right area of the wood and then draw it out again with the captured iron ions in tow. And when the whole process is done, they can heat the composite to a gel and peel it off the surface of the wood.
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Tiny Magnets Will Escort Ions Out of Rare Material From a Shipwreck
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:18PM
The ship is still exposed to oxygen.
A better answer would be to maintain the ship in deionized deoxygenated water. To give even more trouble to microorganisms, you could make it be heavy water.
If people insist on a dry ship, follow the process used for making aerogel, finishing up with argon. Change water to an alcohol with low surface tension, then dry it in an argon atmosphere. Keep the ship under argon.
A slightly crappier but cheaper version is to freeze-dry the ship, then store it in nitrogen.