LarvaTracing : Imagerie RMN des infestations dans les œuvres d’art en bois et matériaux organiques

Abstract

The infestation of a work of art may be destructive for the piece itself and also presents the threat of spreading throughout an entire collection. Several methods are available to museums in order to diagnose an infestation at an early stage and then treat it and prevent possible proliferation. Imaging offers a large range of non-destructive techniques capable of detecting the presence of larvae and insect eggs in work of art. In this study we explore the use of the techniques of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection in vivo and quantification of xylophagous larvae in wood. Our results were obtained using different levels of magnetic fields for the detection of the small larvae of common furniture beetles and the larger larvae of longhorn beetles. Our study demonstrates the interest of MRI techniques for the non-destructive detection of infestation in works of art made of wood and other organic materials, techniques that can be used by museum curators.

Keywords

• non-destructive control
• infestation
• insect
• xylophage
• cultural property
• magnetic field