Discussions between the Textile Department at UMIST and the Textile Conservation Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum led to a research programme which studied the efficiency of four different cleaning systems for degraded linen, using objective colour measurement to assess soil removal and colour change, tensile testing to estimate changes in strength, image analysis to measure changes in fibre and yarn diameter and yarn spacing, and weight loss and Scanning Electron Microscopy to assess soil removal and fibre damage.In Part I of this paper the authors discuss the research methodology and present the results of the cleaning assessment. In the case of fabric A, which is heavily soiled, the cleaning efficiency correlates well with weight loss. Conversely for fabric B which is highly degraded the weight loss shows a negative correlation with cleaning efficiency.
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