Authors: Jinjiang Yan Nicole Villarreal Bugao Xu
Publish Date: 2013/07/12
Volume: 21, Issue: 4, Pages: 902-909
Abstract
Near infrared NIR spectroscopy has been found to be one of the most important characterization tools for polymeric materials based on comparatively simple NIRfavorable chemical groups ie C–H O–H and N–H This paper focuses on characterizing degradation of cotton cellulosic fibers in a historical textile—‘Curtain Dress’ in the famous movie Gone With the Wind through NIR spectroscopy and investigating morphological and molecular changes associated with appearance change such as discolorations in the same cotton textiles In this study we did onsite testing on the ‘Curtain Dress’ with the Brimrose Luminar 5030 NIRanalyzer and analyzed the NIR spectroscopy results at eight locations where different degrees of discoloration occurred on the dress The study identified the wavelength bands according to NIR spectral absorbancies of the typical functional groups in cellulosic fibers such as C–H C–O and O–H stretches compared the absorbance intensities at three main wavelengths and investigated discoloration in different areas via principal component analysis The combination factor scores of the 1st and 2nd principal components which accounted for 9909 variance of vibrations within various groups in a molecule measured through NIR reflected effectively morphological changes in the fiber’s molecular structure and degrees of discolorationsThe authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the outstanding support of the staff at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin in particular Steve Wilson Curator of Film and Jill Morena Assistant Curator of Costumes and Personal Effects for giving them access to the ‘Curtain Dress’ They would also like to thank Dr Cynthia K Jay from the ‘Historical Textile and Apparel Collection’ at the School for Human Ecology at the University of Texas at Austin for providing cotton samples for comparison testing Finally they wish to acknowledge Maggie Houdman and Xiaowen Guo for their assistance with the on site testing
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