Zastosowanie promieniowania gamma w dziedzinie konserwacji zabytków

• Authors: Mączyński Dominik

Title variants

EN

THE USE OF GAMMA-RADIATION IN MONUMENTS’ CONSERVATION

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

Studies are under way on the establishment of concrete applications of radio-active radiation in the conservation of works of art. This, in particular, refers to two directions of studies: (1) disinfection treatment, and (2) consolidation of porous materials by using radiopolymers. The disinfection of historic objects attacked by microorganisms, fungi, moulds or insects is done by their irradiation with gamma- -rays. Radiation is fixed at such a stregth as to totally destroy cells of the parasite and to avoid, if possible, any side effects of irradiation. The treatment is done in research institutes in a strictly controlled way. The next step is to establish the kind of the insect, stregth of radiation needed to destroy it, time of irradiation and to control the temperature during this process. Prior to and after irradiation the objects are subjected to detailed physical and chemical analyses. This form of disinfection is applied on a broad scale in France; similar trials have been made in Japan, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. The consolidation of porous materials consists in their saturation with synthetic resin and irradiation with gamma rays, which in effect leads to the polymerization of resin. Gamma-radiation replaces here a chemical catalyst. Side effects of the process include an increase in the weight of the object (resin fills in pores of the material), possibility of slight discolouring or even microcracks in the surface of the object (in case of heterogeneous materials like polychromed wood). The use of this kind of consolidation is being worked out for individual kinds of materials and their combinations as well as for various types of resins and their combinations by means of experiments. On a broader scale this form of treatment is used for objects made in wood or for the conservation of archaeological finds (water-filled wood), using in both cases styrene-polyester. The studies are carried out in the Centre for Nuclear Studies in Grenoble and in Sachay in France.

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1985
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 311-314

Dates

published

1985

Contributors

author

Mączyński Dominik

• mgr inż. arch., PP PKZ - Oddział w Warszawie

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247