Surface Barriers for Protection of Culture and Heritage Wooden Objects from Insect Attack
IRG/WP 04-40286
M Petric, M Pavlic, B Kricej, M Humar, F Pohleven
Anoxic treatment is an environment friendly procedure for eradication of wood boring insects in wooden objects of cultural and historical heritage. However, after the anoxic treatment, wooden antiques remain susceptible to further insect attacks. Possible protection against insects could be provided by the so-called post-repression protective barriers. Potential coating materials for such barriers to be used on hidden unpainted surfaces of wooden antiques were investigated. We studied relevant properties of five different coating materials: thickness, hardness by resistance to scratching, adhesion, flexibility, resistance to temperature changes, conformability to the concept of reversibility and bioresistance against wood boring insects. The most promising results were exhibited by the coating that is commercially used for protection of fresh log ends in forests, immediately after a tree is cut.