Degradation consolidant

Most importantly, the behavioral complexity of a consolidated artifact is subject to increase, not decrease, as resins and other materials used in consolidation become degraded. Consolidation, therefore, incurs a treatment continuum and should be considered as part of an ongoing stabilization process it is not an end. 

Biovault is a commercially available, nonproprietary, ex situ treatment for soil and sediment contaminated with chlorinated and nonchlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs and VOCs). The basic biovault process is to promote the degradation of the existing soil contaminants in consolidated piles by stimulation of the indigenous (or augmented) microbial population. The process typically includes low-intensity aeration, moisture control, and supplementation with nutrients. 

As these results show, naturally degraded cellulose has not yet been fully characterized or duplicated. However, a sharp drop in DP and an accompanying strength loss are common to all the artificially and naturally degraded samples. Since it is the weakened condition of the textile that is being addressed in the consolidation study, any one of the model systems should serve as a useful substrate, at least in the initial studies, even if not all the properties of naturally degraded fabrics are matched. 

TJart I of this series of papers (I) described attempts to prepare artifi-dally degraded cotton fabrics which would serve as suitable substrates for evaluating materials intended for use in the textile conservation workshop. While no one system completely reproduced the characteristics of naturally degraded samples, fabrics aged by irradiation were judged adequate for the consolidation study. 

This chapter describes the applications of a series of resins and monomers to the artificially degraded substrate and the effectiveness of the treatments as fabric consolidants. To be considered as useful, a treatment must enhance the strength and flexibility of the substrate without altering its appearance or hand. Aesthetic and historic considerations... 

Draining of Consolidants Effect of Concentration. As noted in the introduction, one objective of the studies described here is to examine techniques for applying consolidants under conditions that will reduce the physical hazards to which the fabric substrate is exposed. Since the acrylic resins examined in Part II of this series (I) have outstanding resistance to degradation from UV light and heat and normally do not yellow or stiffen under adverse conditions, some of these resins were re-examined using a much less severe application technique. Milder curing procedures also were utilized. 

To determine the quantitative effects of this consolidation procedure, fabric disks cut from the extracted degraded fabric were used as substrates. These fabrics were torn on an Instron tensile testing machine as described earlier and patched with six applications of either the 0.1% dyed wood pulp or the 0.05% dyed Cellunier P slurry. The samples were then torn again on the Instron tester. The average breaking strengths and add-ons of the samples after six passes with slurry are reported in Table IV. A typical tom fabric and a patched fabric are shown in Figures 6 and 7. 

In general, composite consolidation degrades fiber properties and it becomes necessary to devise procedures that allow determination of Sc and m to be evaluated relevant to the fibers within the composite. This is a challenging problem. In some cases, it is possible to dissolve the matrix without further degrading the fibers and then measure the bundle strength.77 This is not feasible with most CMCs of interest. The following two alternatives exist. 

Critical decisions are often made on the basis of subjective observations of each piece coupled with curatorial experience with similar pieces. Conservators who embark occasionally on restorative treatments such as fabric consolidation designed to reverse the symptoms of degradation have begun to address the causes and to consider the... 

To cure the effects of degradation, various polymeric consolidation materials were applied to artificially degraded cloth. Because long-term stability and ultimate consequences of treatment were not determined, recommendations for this use were not given (10). 

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