Gels for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
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Gels for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Piero Baglioni1*, Debora Berti1, Massimo Bonini1, Emiliano Carretti1, Maria Del Carmen Casas Perez2, David Chelazzi1, Luigi Dei1, Emiliano Fratini1, Rodorico Giorgi1, Irene Natali1 and Marcia Carolina Arroyo1. 1
Department of Chemistry and CSGI, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy. 2 Facultad del Habitat, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Niño Artillero 150 - Zona Universitaria, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. * Corresponding author ABSTRACT The consolidation of a pictorial surface or the removal of undesired material from the surface of an artifact, are the most important and delicate operations in the conservation of cultural heritage. In this contribution we report on the synthesis and characterization of two innovative systems for the cleaning of works of art: i) highly viscous polymeric dispersions (HVPDs) of poly(vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) random copolymer (PVAc), and ii) chemical gels from acrylamide N,N’-methylene bisacrylamide, loaded with innovative aqueous cleaning systems. These systems were prepared, characterized and tested over artistic surfaces, such as wood and canvas. Rheology and FTIR spectroscopy allowed the characterization of the materials, and provided evidence that the systems allow an efficient cleaning of the substrates, without leaving residues. INTRODUCTION Historically, the cleaning of artworks’ substrates has had a fundamental role in the activity of conservators and restorers, involving the usage of a wide number of techniques and materials. As a crucial procedure in many restoration processes, cleaning has a twofold task. While providing an aesthetic upgrade of the objects to their original look and beauty, cleaning also ensures the removal of degraded coatings, varnishes, dirt, and other detrimental materials that would otherwise enhance the degradation of the artistic surface [1,2]. In order to properly fulfill these tasks, the cleaning intervention needs to be as selective and less invasive as possible. Chemical cleaning is usually coupled with mechanical action on surfaces, so to remove layers of undesired material without inducing alteration on binders, pigments, or even supporting substrates such as canvas or wood. Whenever the direct solving of detrimental coatings is not possible, their swelling or softening, by means of solvents, is indeed the preliminary step before their physical removal, using cotton swabs. As a matter of fact, the swelling of coatings also grants a more gradual and less aggressive removal with respect to their one-step solubilization, and is indeed generally addressed as a more careful procedure in cleaning interventions. One of the major practical problems related to the usage of neat liquids, however, is due to the lack of control in their application, resulting in aggressive or non-selective cleaning. As a matter of fact gels, and in particular chemical gels, allow the retaining of liquids and their controlled release on a surface, limiting the spre
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