Colleagues at the Heritage Science Laboratory at the University of Ljubljana have made an important contribution to the understanding of structural changes in silk fibres caused by the 19th-century practice of ‘tin-weighting’. Using this process, textile manufacturers altered the weight and thus the draping properties of silk, as well as increased its weight, which was not unimportant given that silk used to be sold by weight then.
Using advanced material characterisation techniques such as Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-Ray scattering, and Infrared spectroscopy, the researchers analysed the impact of tin phosphate on the physical and chemical properties of silk at the molecular level. The findings reveal significant alterations to the structure of silk, which may have crucial implications for the long-term preservation of these valuable historical textiles.
“This research represents a critical step in our understanding of how tin-weighted silk degrades over time, which is important for the preservation of invaluable heritage collections,” explained prof. dr. Matija Strlič. The insights gained from this study will aid in the development of more effective preventive conservation strategies in collaboration with project partners which include the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana and the Fashion Museum in Antwerp, Belgium.
Three members of our research team—Ibrahim Elrefaey, Hend Mahgoub and Matija Strlič—collaborated with Anton Meden (Chair of Inorganic Chemistry), Marjan Marinšek (Chair of Materials and Polymer Engineering), Matija Tomšič and Andrej Jamnik (Chair of Physical Chemistry) from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University of Ljubljana, along with Chiara Vettorazzo (University of Antwerp).
Download the paper published in the journal Polymers here. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/16/17/2481
This research (COBISS.SI-ID 206222851) was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), WEAVE project SAFESILK.