consolidation and protection of glass artifacts using nano composites

Abstract

In the last few years, nanoparticles have widely been used in the fields of restoration and conservation of cultural heritage. The dispersion of nanoparticles in the polymers used in the consolidation and protection processes lead to a significant enhancement of their physiochemical and mechanical properties. The minimizing of particles size into nanoscale,results in better properties from the large grain size of the materials of the same chemical composition. In this study, silica nanoparticles was achieved because of the great homogeneity between them and the glass components in addition to the zinc oxide nanoparticles because of the characteristics of self-cleaning. The properties of the treated glass samples were evaluated comparatively by visual appraisal, colorimetric measurements,measuring of static contact angle of water droplets on the surface of the samples, density and hardness strength, and scanning electron microscope.The results confirmed that the addition of nanoparticles to acrylic nanopolymers have improved the protection and protection of glass samples. As a result of the sterio microscope, the surface treated with nano paraloid and nano primal compounds with nano silica and zinc gave a good reinforcement. By measuring the density of the treated glass surface, it was found that the nanopolymers and nanoparticles improved the density of the treated samples. Nanoparloid with nanozinc gave the best results compared to other nano compounds . Scan electron microscope revealed that the nanoparloid with nanozinc didn’t have appearance any cracks after treatment and a protective barrier on the surface where the percentage of silica decreased and the proportion of carbon increased as a result of treatment.

Keywords

• glass artifacts; nano-silica; nano-zinc; nano composites; consolidation and protection