The Effects of Artificial Incomplete Burning on the Morphology and Dimensions of Cellulosic and Proteinaceous Textiles and Fibres

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research was to produce reference data for the study and identification of fibres of carbonised excavated textiles. Thus, the effects of carbonisation (incomplete burning) on the morphology and dimensions of selected fibres used in textile production were investigated. A set of standard test, commercial, and hand-made fabrics, of four cellulosic (cotton, flax, hemp, nettle) and two proteinaceous (silk, wool/ wool felt) fibres, were used for the experiments. Samples were carbonised in a limited oxygen environment at 250, 350, and 500°C for one hour (apart from the wool samples for which the duration of the experiment had to be lowered to six minutes). Wool and silk samples were destroyed at temperatures above 250°C. All cellulosic and the silk samples shrank and their weight was reduced at different percentages that increased as the temperature increased. Exceptionally, wool textile samples exhibited extreme shrinkage but also an increase in their weight. Similarly, the fibre diameters of the cellulosic and silk fibres shrunk gradually at different degrees as the temperature increased, and some exhibited marked degradation patterns, like lacerations in flax, ridges in hemp, raggedness in nettle, and cracks in silk fibres. Wool fibres swell locally but retained the scale pattern on the surface. In general, an increase in the weave count of the textile samples was observed. However, the morphology of the fibres characteristic to their identification did not alter to an unrecognisable degree as a result of artificial carbonisation, as long as the material was preserved.

KEYWORDS:

• Textile fibres
• charring
• scanning electron microscopy
• fibre morphology
• fibre dimensions

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr Marie-Louise Nosch, Dr Eva Andersson-Strand, and Anne Drewsen, Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen; Dr Elisavet Dotsika, Dr Giorgos Diamantopoulos, and Petros Karalis, Institute of Nanoscience Nanotechnology, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”; and Athanasios Karampotsos, School of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, University of Western Attica.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (agreement No 745865).