Is there evidence for change to collagen within parchment samples after exposure to an X-ray dose during high contrast X-ray microtomography? a multi technique investigation

Abstract

Abstract:The potential use of high contrast X-ray microtomography (XMT) for the reading of fragile historic documents without the need to physically unravel them is a new analytical imaging development in the field of conservation however, it is important to first assess if there is any evidence of change in the parchment structure during scanning by XMT. Modern and historic parchment samples were exposed to X-rays using the high contrast XMT equipment. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), Near-infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilised to investigate whether there is any evidence for change to collagen within parchment samples after exposure to XMT. Results show that the inherent differences in the parchment structure due to the material source, production and storage appear to produce larger differences than that due to the exposure to XMT. This indicates that XMT may be a suitable technique for data recovery from parchment samples that cannot be unrolled.

A study of the deterioration of aged parchment marked with laboratory iron gall inks using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy and micro hot table

“…Oxidative degradation affects mainly the functional side groups, i.e. reduces the amine-containing basic amino acids, and increases the acidic ones, while in more extreme conditions cleavage of the C-N bonds in the backbone may occur [15,25].…”

The Venice “Archivio Di Stato”: innovating digitization with x-ray tomography

“…[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. For example, synchrotron x-ray fluorescence brought to light original text from the "Archimedes Palimpsest" [6] and x-ray phase contrast extracted letters from a carbonized Herculaneum rolled papyrus [7].…”

“…For example, synchrotron x-ray fluorescence brought to light original text from the "Archimedes Palimpsest" [6] and x-ray phase contrast extracted letters from a carbonized Herculaneum rolled papyrus [7]. Seales et al [8] and Davis et al [9], [10] successfully tested the use of x-ray tomography for antique scrolls. Our objective is to extend these approaches to the systematic analysis of very large handwriting collections.…”

“…[7], [8], [9], [10] and their optimistic message: virtual reading by xray tomography can be extended to scrolls and also to other specimens with odd shapes -such as folded internal pages, sheets glued to each other and warped sheets. V. DISCUSSION AND PROSPECTIVES The above tests carry, in general, optimistic messages.…”

Virtual Recovery of Content from X-Ray Micro-Tomography Scans of Damaged Historic Scrolls

“…XMT is a miniaturised version of medical human body CT scanning, designed to look at specimens much smaller than the human body, with a resolution in the region of microns, and the X-ray absorption contrast is strong for iron gall ink, which is the most commonly used ink in Europe between the 12th and 19th centuries. Moreover, spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the effects of XMT scanning on the parchment structure, and experiments did not find evidence of any damage or change in the material properties 2 , indicating the suitability of XMT for parchment analysis.…”