CONSOLIDATING ADHESIVES FOR FLAKING AND FRAGILE PAINT LAYERS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OBJECTS

Adhesives have been used in the conservation of cultural objects for many centuries. They are used to re-adhere fragments or to consolidate flaking or fragile materials. Indeed many paintings, sculptures and other cultural objects would not have survived if it were not for the ability to conserve them using a variety of adhesives. Natural products have been, and still are, used extensively, but they degrade over time, and their properties are not always ideal for the purpose at hand. Synthetic and semi-synthetic products were introduced in the 20th century, although hardly any of them were developed specifically for the conservation of cultural heritage, nor tested for this purpose. These have problems of their own and have unknown aging properties. This project investigates the chemical and physical aging properties of adhesives currently used and will develop improved dedicated types by sourcing and combining materials and formulation, based on the needed properties. The research challenge is to understand and predict the viability, initial performance and the long-term degradation of the developed adhesives by testing the adhesives on mock-ups and by constructing aging prediction models on both mechanical and optical changes.

PUBLICATIONS

• Chelsey A. Del Grosso, Johannes A. Poulis, E. René de la Rie. The Photo-stability of Acrylic Tri-block Copolymer Blends for the Consolidation of Cultural Heritage. 2019.

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