30 | In Images cnrsI InternatIonal magazIne 08 09 10 hotothèque P : b. leterrier/cnrs gating a new solvent-based process, which uses compounds called aminoalkyl alkoxysilanes, to Photos strengthen papers significantly weakened by © time-induced acidification. As an example, Dupont fate, gum arabic, and oak galls, it poses a recurrent 08 crcc specialists need to evaluate slides one such document out of a drawer—an old problem for librarians,” the scientist explains. “Over restoration processes for paper damaged by newspaper in a plastic sleeve, which would crumble time, it diffuses through the paper, browns the back old inks.to do so, they take samples from old documents to study their behavior. if handled directly. and damages the cellulose, creating splits and holes.” Newspapers are not the only treasures hidden in Once researchers had established that the iron(II) 09 10other research focuses on the preservation of old manuscripts.new paper the conservation center’s cupboards. Researcher sulfate contained in the ink was the main culprit for is impregnated with ink and subjected to Véronique Rouchon has just finished examining one this chemical degradation, they artificially repro- different environments to analyze its of the oldest pieces of paper in the world, a 2000-year- duced the effect in order to determine the most behavior.using this methodology, researchers old sample discovered by ArScAn3 researchers Jean- effective treatment for severely damaged were able to develop a new technique to stabilize badly damaged paper. Paul Desroches, Guilhem André, and their team documents. This important study, which lasted during a French archeological mission in Mongolia approximately 10 years and was partly conducted at 11 some old documents made from in 2006. It has been carefully preserved in a polysty- the SOLeIL synchrotron facility, south of Paris, acidification and are difficult to handle.unpurified wood pulp fall victim to rene box ever since. Rouchon and her colleagues also enabled scientists to propose novel treatments that thecrcc is developing treatments to study iron gall ink. “In Westerneurope, from the simply requirecontact with an interleaved sheet simultaneously strengthen and de-acidify the Middle Ages to the 19th century, most writing was impregnated with active products, rather than com- paper, whose mechanical properties are then tested by scientists, as shown here. made with this type of ink. Containing ferrous sul- plete immersion in a solution. This result perfectly reflects the CRCC’s mission of preserving the past 11 through innovation. 01. centre de recherche sur la conservation des collections (cnrs / Mnhn / Mcc). 02. laboratoire de recherche des monuments historiques (Mcc). 03. laboratoire Archéologies et sciences de l’antiquité (cnrs / université Paris-ouest-nanterre-la Défense /université Paris-i-Panthéon-sorbonne / Mcc). contact InformatIon: crcc, Paris. Bertrand Lavédrine > lavedrin@mnhn.fr
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