Authors: Jasna Malešič Martin Šala Vid Simon Šelih Drago Kočar
Publish Date: 2014/06/08
Volume: 21, Issue: 4, Pages: 2925-2936
Abstract
Iron gall ink was the most widely used writing ink for paper from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century Unfortunately the ink ingredients contain corrosive transition metal ions and acids that cause severe damage to the paper carrier New or improved paper conservation methods for iron gall ink stabilization are constantly sought The aim of the study was evaluation of a recently proposed stabilization treatment adapted to lower relative humidity applied to various model and historical paper samples containing iron gall ink The effect of stabilization treatment on paper samples during artificial thermal aging was followed by the determination of the molecular weight distribution by size exclusion chromatography and colorimetry Migration of iron and copper compounds from the ink lines was monitored by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry The results demonstrate that effective stabilization of iron gall inkcontaining paper can be successfully achieved by interleaving with papers impregnated with the antioxidant tetrabutylammonium bromide and alkaline buffer under experimental conditions Negative side effects of the stabilization treatment such as migration of iron or copper ions from the ink lines and changes of color after the treatment and after accelerated thermal degradation were limited proving that the proposed stabilization treatment can be considered for future use by conservatorsThe authors acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia through contract no 321110000057 Center of Excellence for Polymer Materials and Technologies The financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency is gratefully acknowledged research program no P10153 and P10034 Mrs Vesna Zorko is thanked for the technical assistance Mrs Irena Sešek is thanked for editing the English
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