The effects of hydration on the collagen and gelatine phases within parchment artefacts

This review discusses the need to understand the effects of relative humidity on parchment and the current understanding of parchment structure and hydration. It also provides a critical evaluation of the body of foregoing research investigating the effects of relative humidity on parchment artefact...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHeritage science Vol. 1; no. 1; p. 14
Main Authors Gonzalez, Lee Grant, Wess, Timothy James
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cham Springer International Publishing 24.04.2013
Springer Nature B.V
BioMed Central Ltd
Subjects
Chemistry and Materials Science
Materials Science
Review
Relative humidity
Parchment
Collagen
Gelatine
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Summary:This review discusses the need to understand the effects of relative humidity on parchment and the current understanding of parchment structure and hydration. It also provides a critical evaluation of the body of foregoing research investigating the effects of relative humidity on parchment artefacts. The critical evaluation shows that the current scientific evidence that can be used to inform the debate with regard to relative humidity guidelines for the preservation of parchment artefacts is insufficient, especially in the light of a greater understanding of parchment based documents when considered as composite materials comprising collagen and gelatine. The differential behaviour of collagen and gelatine (and consequently the effect on the interfaces between them) in terms of response to relative humidity changes, is proposed as a key factor to be considered for future studies. This review concludes with an analysis of the next steps required in parchment research in order to provide an informed advisory framework.
ISSN:2050-7445
2050-7445
DOI:10.1186/2050-7445-1-14