Lucretia Miu

• National Research & Development Institute for Textiles and Leather

Animal-origin glues are adhesives made by boiling animal tissues for a long time, and from the chemical point of view they are gelatinous and albuminoid protein substances bearing different names. The most frequently used are gelatins. They are extracted from raw animal hide residues, from cartilages, tendons, and from the gelatinous matter extract...

The historical artefacts of parchment are prone to degradation if the storage conditions are improper due to the collagen structure having a limited stability under physical, chemical, and biological agent attacks. The parchment structure is difficult to characterize due to the variety of manufacturing traditions (eastern/western), intrinsic variab...

The work presents a series of aspects related to the degree of biodeterioration of some heritage objects made of inorganic substrates (brick), and the identification of fungi and bacteria with a damaging action on historical materials. Inorganic substrates represented by dust particles from walls and bricks were studied. Fired clay bricks can be se...

Adhesives based on collagen extracted from the skin, tendons, cartilage, bones of animals and fish have been widely used over time as binders and consolidating agents for various organic and inorganic materials. The use of these types of adhesives or glues or gelatins in the restoration activity has been practiced by restorers due to their properti...

Leather objects, found in archaeological excavations, survive in a specific environment. This leather material is very delicate and only little is known about the mechanism of its (bio)degradation in a soil environment. The main goal of this study was to clarify how leather is affected by a soil environment and why archaeological leathers have thei...

The paper refers to a composition with antifungal and antibacterial effect in order to test new materials for preserving heritage objects on collagen support with bactericidal/antifungal role, essential oils-based from Vetrice (Tanacetum vulgare, Compositae family), having antifungal and antibacterial properties. The biocidal effect of plant extrac...

The art of bookbinding requires not only skills in the old craft of bookbinding but also materials that can transform a simple book into a high-quality artistic product. Due to its unique properties, leather still remains the first-choice material in the case of art and archival bindings. However, the long-term durability of modern leather is not k...

Leather is a complex material mostly consisting of a matrix of collagen, chemically stabilized by various tannins. This matrix, sooner or later undergoes alterations as a consequence of interactions between their structure and environment. A comprehensive study based on multiple chemical and physico-mechanical standard tests regarding leather sampl...

Fur and leather have been among the first materials used for clothing and bodily decoration. It is known that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis used fur clothing. Even though the invention of inexpensive synthetic textiles for insulating clothing led to fur clothing falling out of fashion, fur is still worn in most cool climates around the wor...

In this study NMR MOUSE and micro DSC techniques were used to investigate the interaction between collagen and various vegetable tannins during leather making process with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of different water environment in relation to tannin type. We have previously showed that relaxation times may provide useful informatio...

Cultural heritage represents a national treasure evolving from the culture and spirituality of people. Therefore, it must be continuously recovered, protected and developed by all generations as priceless heritage. Referring to the Romanian cultural heritage items that are placed in restoration, at present, some works have been done for partial or...

The methods for processing raw hides over time, have been numerous: smoke, fat, fermented milk, egg, volcanic soils, plants (shells, fruits, leaves) and so on. The books binding with leather has its origins in the Orient and are known various types of goatskin and calfskin, tanned with sumac finished marbled (sapphire), in black (Moroccan), by floa...

Parchment used for restoration, book binding and art requires special performance on physical-chemical, organoleptic and aesthetic characteristics, but also good long-term stability. In this sense, the parchment is ecologically processed, with features that ensure firmness, fullness, light resistance, dimensional stability, thermal stability, malle...

This study aims to characterize new and artificially aged parchments. Parchment samples of calf, sheep, goat and pig were exposed to artificial ageing at 70°C in 3 cycles: first cycle for 7 days, second cycle for 14 days and 21 days for the 3rd cycle. Thus, a treatment temperature of 70°C was selected to avoid sudden structural changes and rapid co...

This paper presents a comprehensive deterioration profiling of the leather bookbinding of Cazania lui Vaarlam printed in 1643 and owned by the National Museum of Romanian Literature. A complex analytical approach encompassing spectroscopic techniques and thermal analysis methods was set up for the leather bookbinding to investigate collagen structu...

It is now increasingly accepted that medicinal plants can be successfully used to treat certain conditions. There are a large number of people with rheumatic, joint and muscular disorders, and it is necessary to improve the treatment of patients suffering from these conditions by alternative methods. For these diseases, phytotherapy recommends plan...

The pdf format of the book can be downloaded at: https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={3A9B6471-80CF-42D8-86D5-D0E8C9914488} Chapter Abstract: The vast majority of the studies on Boian pottery (Early Eneolithic in Southern Romania: c. 5000-4500 cal BC) are limited to analyses of shape and decoration with the aim of e...

Sheep furskins for medical use were tanned with non-metallic tanning materials (syntans based on phenolsulphonic acids and aromatic oxysulfones). Sanitation of medical furs was made using essential oils, with therapeutic effect, in the final treatment of tanned furs. The paper refers to obtaining and physical-chemical characterization of new produc...

This paper presents an overview of the conservation state of the tawed white leather, parchment and reused parchment bookbindings from the Rare Book Collection of the Romanian Academy Library. The transdisciplinary study was jointly conducted by the researchers of INCDTP-ICPI and Manuscripts and Rare Book Department of the Romanian Academy Library....

Historical leathers, in a huge variety of items as footwear and garments, bookbinding, wall tapestry, upholstery, harnesses, armours, storage vessels, household tools, cases, musical instruments, toys, ritual objects are regarded as important testimonials of our cultural heritage. It is vital therefore that these objects remain well preserved along...

The dose dependent effect of gamma irradiation on collagen in vegetable tanned leather was studied by the MHT method. Examination of the irradiated samples at 3 months after the irradiation treatment revealed variations of the main shrinkage temperatures and intervals. Up to 25 kGy, the shrinkage temperature does not vary while the total shrinkage...

The paper studied the effect of four materials for the preservation of collagen-based heritage objects. The products developed were applied to new leather samples tanned with vegetable tanning agents such as quebracho and mimosa, which were then subjected to accelerated ageing for 24, 48 and 72 hours, at the temperature of 50°C. The effects of the...

Artificial acid rain was chosen to simulate the influences of gaseous pollutants on vegetable-tanned leather. The vegetable-tanned leather samples were soaked in the artificial acid rain for 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days, at 50 degrees C and 100% relative humidity conditions. Then, these samples were evaluated by various analytical methods. Micro ho...

The aim of this work has been the assessment of the thermo-oxidative, hydrothermal and crystalline zone stabilities of several leather samples taken by the conservators from a military coat dated sixteenth–seventeenth centuries, belonging to the History Museum of Braşov—Romania. For this purpose, the thermo-gravimetry/derivative thermo-gravimetry (...

Micro-differential scanning calorimetry was used to reveal the deterioration patterns of collagen in vegetable-tanned leather. The influence of both the tannin type, i.e. hydrolysable or condensed, and collagen animal species, i.e. calf and sheep, was investigated. Comparison with the behaviour of unmodified collagen in parchment was made to explai...

This article aims at studying the influence of UV irradiation on vegetable tanned leather. Vegetable tanned leather was treated in QUV chamber (T = 50°C, irradiance = 1.77 W/mm² nm, ëUVA = 340 nm) for 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 hours. Then, these samples were evaluated by different analytical methods to get a whole picture of the leather during the...

. The dose dependent effect of gamma irradiation on collagen in vegetable tanned leather was studied by unilateral nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Examination of the irradiated samples after 1 week of treatment revealed variations of both spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin (T2) proton relaxation times. To evaluate the long-term effects of gamma irra...

Leather and parchment are among the oldest man-made biomaterials. There is a huge variety of historical and cultural objects made of parchment (scrolls, documents and codices, bookbindings, etc.) and leather (wall tapestry, storage vessels, musical instruments, luggage, objects of personal use such as shoes and garments, and mummified skins of anim...

The aging mechanism of leather and parchment was studied by thermoanalytical methods to understand the effect of the environment on the historical manuscripts and the heritage of libraries and archives. Alkaline and acidic treatments followed by thermal dehydration were applied to achieve chemical changes in the structure of new leather and parchme...

This article aims at studying the influence of gaseous pollutants on aluminium tanned leather. Artificial acid rain was used to soak the aluminium tanned collagen materials for 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 days, then some analytical techniques were used to evaluate the changes of leather during the aging process. Micro hot table (MHT), differential scanning...

Durbe Hadji-Geray is the sole funerary building from the second half of the XV th and the first half of the XVI th century belonging to the khans of the Geray dynasty and the members of their families. The site includes several tombs of the founders of the Crimean Tatar state, containing textile, leather and metallic artefacts, coins, but also wood...

The aim of this preliminary study was to observe the effect of glycerin on the denaturation (shrinkage) temperature of leather. For this, samples of chrome- and vegetable-tanned leathers were analyzed by DSC measurements while immersed in pure water, glycerine-water solutions of different concentrations (25, 50, 75, 90%) and pure glycerin, in pres...

Historical leather is a complex biological material, and due to various methods of production or tannins used, unknown environmental histories of objects and heterogeneous composition and stratigraphy, it represents a particular analytical challenge. Recent analytical and technological improvements have allowed to reveal the causes of degradations...

Unilateral NMR has proven to be a valuable tool in the field of collagen-based cultural heritage where non-destructive analyses are highly demanded. Old leather is a collagen-based biomaterial made from animal hides chemically treated by vegetable or mineral tanning to increase chemical and physical durability and confer desired handling and workin...

The present paper reports the results obtained by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Micro Hot Table method (MHT) for new vegetable tanned leathers exposed to 80°C and 80% RH for 1 to 32 days. DSC measurements were carried out both in water excess (heating rate 10 C/min , temperature range 25 to 110°C), and under nitrogen flow (heating rat...

Il presente studio si propone di individuare un protocollo analitico per la validazione dei procedimenti di restauro conservativo della pergamena, che vede l'azione congiunta di conservatori, restauratori e ricercatori. Il metodo adottato consiste in un esame multiscala basato su indagini non-invasive e micro-invasive per caratterizzare le propriet...

Il presente studio si propone di individuare un protocollo analitico per la validazione dei procedimenti di restauro conservativo della pergamena, che vede l'azione congiunta di conservatori, restauratori e ricercatori. Il metodo adottato consiste in un esame multiscala basato su indagini non-invasive e micro-invasive per caratterizzare le propriet...

The aim and the novelty of this work was the use of both dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), in water and in dry state, for the investigation of the effects of temperature and relative humidity on degradation of recently manufactured parchments and vegetable-tanned leathers. The materials were subjected to...

Specimens of new and archaeological leather before and after restoration were investigated. It was determined that both the ageing of leather and its further restoration affect the amount of polar amino acids in the leather. TG, DTG and DTA studies of the new and archeological leather before and after restoration allowed a conclusion to be drawn th...

During leather making, plenty of materials are added to the hide fiber in some treatments including tanning, retanning and fatliquoring. Most of these processes and materials impact the flammability of leather. In this paper, effects of properties of retanning agents on leather flammability were emphatically discussed. First, six retanning agents w...

PerfumeΒ -cyclodextrin inclusion (P-Β-CD) used for leather finishing has been reported already. However, when P-Β-CD was directly applied in finishing of leather, some white point would appear on the leather surface because of the white of inclusion compound, which limited its application ultimately. In order to solve the problem, a colored Β-cyclo...

Specimens of new and archaeological leather before and after restoration were investigated. To conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses of amino acid composition of the new and archeological leather before and after restoration, ion-exchange liquid-column chromatography was employed. It was determined that both the ageing of leather and its fu...

The scope of this work was the assessment of thermo-oxidative deterioration, hydrothermal stability, and crystalline zone deterioration of some bookbinding leathers from some religious books published in XVIII century stored in Romanian libraries. In this purpose, the following thermal analysis methods were employed: thermogravimetry/derivative the...

Micro differential scanning calorimetry (micro DSC), micro hot table (MHT) method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy measurements were used to investigate the synergistic effects of temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) on deterioration of parchment from microscopic to molecular level. Sample...

The microscopic assessment of collagen fibres structure and measurement of their shrinkage activity were used to provide a quantification of the deterioration at microscopic level for two groups of historical parchments from the Royal Library of Copenhagen and the State Archives of Florence. The micro differential scanning calorimetry (micro DSC) w...

A novel writing parchment was prepared by tanning with an aluminum salt. The moisture content of this parchment was approximate to 10%, and its acidity was maintained at a pH value of 6.5. As for the surface of the parchment, the color of the grain face was similar to the fresh side, with the luminance value around 90 and the brightness value about...

This study will give a better insight on how irradiation can be used to treat and preserve delicate historical objects by clearing them of contaminants such as insects, fungi and bacteria. Historic and culturally important objects are at risk of microbial deterioration. Microbial deterioration ofheritage materials occurs primarily through the forma...

Collagen-based materials In museum objects may suffer physical-chemical and structural changes under the influence of environmental factors. This alteration can be evaluated and quantified at different levels using several analytical techniques, such as infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-VIS-NIR, thermal analysis (TG, DSC), shrinkage stability mea...

FT-IR, UV-VIS-NIR, FP, optical microscopy and MHT were used to assesss specific deterioration processes in leather book covers

Leather products have been useful materials since the dawn of human history. Many leathers objects are valuable treasures due to the history they represent, and their preservation challenges museum custodians and private collectors alike. In this article, the applications of thermal analysis methods (Micro Hot Table (MHT), thermogravimetry/derivati...

A sort of pure collagen, 22 sorts of new parchments, 35 sorts of old (14th–19th centuries) parchments, 19 sorts of new vegetable tanned leathers and 31 sorts of old (15th–19th centuries) leathers were investigated by DMA technique in tensile mode from room temperature to 260 °C. The obtained results were correlated with those determined by DSC meas...

Analysis, parchment collection and preservation

Ukrainian museum and monasteries preserve a large number of parchment and leather documents dated from the 14 th to the 19 th centuries. As any organic structure, these materials are subjected to the destructive processes due to physico-chemical (light, humidity, temperature, pollutants, etc), biological and microbiological factors that lead to cha...

Evaluation of leather degradation in the bookbinding of the Four Gospel was achieved by FTIR/ATR, FTIR/Transmission and MHT method.

A DSC study of new parchments exposed at 25 • C for 1–16 weeks to controlled atmospheres containing 50 ppm of gaseous chemical pollutants (NO 2 , SO 2 , NO 2 + SO 2) and 50% relative humidity (RH) was per-formed. Samples were exposed to chemical pollutants alone, as well as after previous heating at 100 • C for 2–16 days and/or irradiating with vis...

The effects of the laser radiation (λ = I064nm and its 532nm harmonics at 2Hz) on the fluorescent characteristics of the parchment samples have been rendered evident with the aim of establishing the onset of the accelerated ageing process. The fluorescent characteristics pointing to the structural changes in the peptide chain were correlated with t...

The use of thermal analysis methods (TG, DTA, DSC, DMA etc.) to characterize materials belonging to the cultural patrimony is well documented. Among these techniques, the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) can provide very useful information about the subtle changes of the sample structure on heating based on the mechanical effects accompanying them...

Leather products (light leathers: tanned skin for footwear, garments, bookbinding leathers; heavy leathers for soles and belts; parchment; collagen; clay; etc.) have been useful materials since the dawn of human history. As any organic structure, these materials are subjected to the destructive processes due to physical-chemical (light, humidity, t...

A comprehensive investigation has been made of a set of historical leather samples from the 17th – 20th centuries. For the investigation of the degradation degree spectral techniques in IR (MID and NIR) and UV-VIS have been used, and collateral Micro Hot Table (MHT) determination as well. Changes in the physical and chemical characteristics values...

The paper presents the behavior of new parchment subjected to laser cleaning on the fluorescence spectral characteristics.

FTIR/ATR, UV-VIS-NIR investigations on new, aged and historical collagen based materials (leather, parchment).

A comprehensive investigation by means of FT-IR, UV-VIS-NIR and MHT of the Romanian historical leather.

Parchment as a natural biomolecule with complex chemical structure and special physical–chemical characteristics has been extensively used as the material for written information (manuscripts). Taking into consideration the action of some environmental, chemical and biological factors, an ample study has been initiated by simulating the conditions...