Investigating the uses of freezing, anoxia and heat treatment as pest treatments, and their physical effects on textiles

Oh, Michelle (2013) Investigating the uses of freezing, anoxia and heat treatment as pest treatments, and their physical effects on textiles. [MPhil]

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Abstract

Pest management is an essential part of collection care. Three pest treatments that are the most commonly used methods in practice today are freezing, anoxia and heat. With the rise in loan exchanges between institutions nationally and internationally, the situation in which a particular artefact may be put through a mix of treatments is a very real possibility. In addition, the increase of modern materials in the collections, which have not been tested extensively with various pest management treatments, now creates another aspect of concern. To date, there has been little published research into the effect of treatments on textiles. Different institutions use variations of the three treatments. This dissertation aims to capture that information through surveys sent out internationally, with attempts to include Asia as there is little published literature from this region. This dissertation also seeks to investigate the physical effects of the three pest treatments on woven textiles made from, natural, synthetic and regenerated fibres. The methodology includes the use of experiments where new textile samples are subjected to repeated rounds of each treatment, as well as mixed rounds of all three treatments. The physical properties of the samples are then examined microscopically, and through tensile testing. It was found that natural fibres appeared to be the least affected by all treatments while results for synthetic fibres appeared erratic. Acetate appeared to be the most affected and would need further investigation. Microscopic examination showed no discernible change while tensile testing did.

Item Type:Masters Dissertation
Keywords:Textile conservation
Course:Postgraduate Courses > Textile Conservation [MPhil]
Degree Level:MPhil
College/School:College of Arts > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
ID Code:42
Deposited By: Mary Anne Meyering
Supervisor:
Supervisor
Email
Quye, Dr. Anita
UNSPECIFIED
Deposited On:04 Dec 2015 09:51
Last Modified:21 Feb 2017 11:22

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