| Egyptian Journal of Archeological and Restoration Studies

Authors:
Zidan, Y. ¹ , El Hadidi, N. ¹ , Fawzi, M. ¹ & Rabie. M. <sup>2

1</sup> Conservation dept., Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo Univ., Cairo, Egypt
² Institute for Conservation of Archaeology, Luxor, Egypt

Abstract:
Carbogel, a "polyacrylic acid", has been applied for cleaning diff-erent materials in the field of archaeological conservation, but it was rarely applied on wooden artifacts, and its effect on wood has not been assessed. Therefore the aim of this paper is to study the effects of carbogel poultices on one type of wood, namely pine wood, a softwood commonly used in many countries around the world throughout history. Three different Carbogel poultices were prepared by mixing in: distilled water, water and ethyl alcohol and water and acetone. Wood samples were covered with the different carbogel mixtures for 5, 15 and 30 minutes. To assess the long term effect of Carbogel on the treated wood, samples were exp-osed to accelerated heat ageing and humidity. Infrared spectroscopy analyses of treated and aged wood were conducted to study the effect of the poultices on wood components. Color change meas-urements and visual examination using a digital microscope were recorded. The results obtained indicated that carbogel can be safely applied in cleaning wooden artifacts made of softwoods, because its effect on wood components is minute and color change is negligible.

Keywords:
Carbogel Poultice Cleaning FTIR spectroscopy colorimetric measurement

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