Common use of Textiles Clause in Contracts

Textiles. Laboratory experiments and studies to evaluate and quantify the risk for degradation of silk and wool materials due to exposure to organic acids, analyses of different textile samples subjected to accelerated acetic acid exposure and of textile object surfaces in situ were performed. Accelerated ageing of textile material has been performed to determine the chemical changes caused by exposure to the concentration levels of particularly organic pollutants observed indoors in cultural heritage collections and in protective enclosures for movable cultural heritage assets. Scientific investigations of movable cultural heritage objects from medieval collections and historic samples from museums & galleries (from Tismana, ▇▇▇▇▇ and Sucevita monasteries, and Romanian Military National Museum Bucharest) have been accomplished. The selected cultural heritage items for sampling are dated and were easy to handle due to a good state of conservation. The English Heritage partner collected historic woollen samples and delivered them to UAGE to analyze them. The historic textile materials, including wool, silk fibres and the golden threads have been visualised with the optical microscope – Polarised Light Microscopy, the elemental chemical composition have been analysed with EDX, while the threads analysis have been performed with micro–FTIR, and the micro-morphology have been investigated with SEM and AFM. Physical parameters of the materials have been determined, including the breaking strength, imaging fibre assessment, and colour changes. These techniques have been chosen to determine and monitor the process of degradation, modifications of the molecular composition and physical properties, as an effect of ageing. Complementary analytical techniques have been used to understand and detect chemical alterations at the molecular level. The evidence of changes during acid exposure of silk have been put into evidence by FTIR, SEM and optical microscopy analysis correlated with physical parameters of the materials as the breaking strength, fibre assessment and colour changes. The most visible impact of acidic environment have been observed on the raw (un-degummed) silk, on the outer layer of sericin. It was obvious that after two weeks of exposure at acetic acid, it becomes brittle and is detaching from the fibroin. Exposed at acetic acid the degummed silk started to deteriorate after two weeks and intensity of degradation processes intensifies alongside the increase of exposure time (see Figure 8).