TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing Fire-Damage in Historical Papers and Alleviating Damage with Soft Cellulose Nanofibers

AU - Völkel, Laura

AU - Beaumont, Marco

AU - Johansson, Leena Sisko

AU - Czibula, Caterina Marina

AU - Rusakov, Dmitrii

AU - Mautner, Andreas

AU - Teichert, Christian

AU - Kontturi, Eero

AU - Rosenau, Thomas

AU - Potthast, Antje

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Small published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

PY - 2022/2/4

Y1 - 2022/2/4

N2 - The conservation of historical paper objects with high cultural value is an important societal task. Papers that have been severely damaged by fire, heat, and extinguishing water, are a particularly challenging case, because of the complexity and severity of damage patterns. In-depth analysis of fire-damaged papers, by means of examples from the catastrophic fire in a 17th-century German library, shows the changes, which proceeded from the margin to the center, to go beyond surface charring and formation of hydrophobic carbon-rich layers. The charred paper exhibits structural changes in the nano- and micro-range, with increased porosity and water sorption. In less charred areas, cellulose is affected by both chain cleavage and cross-linking. Based on these results and conclusions with regard to adhesion of auxiliaries, a stabilization method is developed, which coats the damaged paper with a thin layer of cellulose nanofibers. It enables the reliable preservation of the paper and—most importantly—retrieval of the contained historical information: the nanofibers form a flexible, transparent film on the surface and adhere strongly to the damaged matrix, greatly reducing its fragility, giving it stability, and enabling digitization and further handling.

AB - The conservation of historical paper objects with high cultural value is an important societal task. Papers that have been severely damaged by fire, heat, and extinguishing water, are a particularly challenging case, because of the complexity and severity of damage patterns. In-depth analysis of fire-damaged papers, by means of examples from the catastrophic fire in a 17th-century German library, shows the changes, which proceeded from the margin to the center, to go beyond surface charring and formation of hydrophobic carbon-rich layers. The charred paper exhibits structural changes in the nano- and micro-range, with increased porosity and water sorption. In less charred areas, cellulose is affected by both chain cleavage and cross-linking. Based on these results and conclusions with regard to adhesion of auxiliaries, a stabilization method is developed, which coats the damaged paper with a thin layer of cellulose nanofibers. It enables the reliable preservation of the paper and—most importantly—retrieval of the contained historical information: the nanofibers form a flexible, transparent film on the surface and adhere strongly to the damaged matrix, greatly reducing its fragility, giving it stability, and enabling digitization and further handling.

KW - art conservation

KW - chemical analysis

KW - heat-damaged cellulose

KW - mechanical stabilization

KW - nanocellulose coating

KW - surface structure

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124479691&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/smll.202105420

DO - 10.1002/smll.202105420

M3 - Article

C2 - 35119202

AN - SCOPUS:85124479691

VL - 18.2022

JO - Small

JF - Small

SN - 1613-6810

IS - 13

M1 - 2105420

ER -