Article In: scopus

Study of iron gall inks, ingredients and paper composition using non-destructive techniques

Heritage

Corregidor V.; Viegas R.; Alves L.C. — 2019 — MDPI

Key information

Authors:

Corregidor V. (Victoria Corregidor Berdasco); Viegas R.; Ferreira L.M.; Alves L.C. (Luís Manuel Cerqueira Lopes Alves)

Published in

December 1, 2019

Abstract

Old manuscripts are among the most important elements of the cultural and historical heritage of ancient knowledge. Unfortunately, many of them suffer from degradation, mostly those written with iron gall inks. In the present work, a study using non-destructive techniques was designed with the aim of analyzing the elemental composition and structural characteristics of iron gall inks, reproduced in laboratory, paper and their interaction when the ink is deposited on paper, inducing the paper degradation. Proton induced X-ray emission, X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy provided the elemental and structural information, and photography under infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) light allowed the differentiation between manufactured inks. Results show that the first step of inked paper deterioration is due to acid-hydrolysis of the cellulose and the presence of reactive Fe(II) species by reducing the crystallinity index of the paper, which is affected depending on the ink recipe and the starting raw materials. These results will be useful to future studies on ancient documents written with iron gall inks, which suffer deterioration due to ink corrosion, and to differentiate between the different paper degradation mechanisms.

Publication details

Authors in the community:

Publisher

MDPI

Link to the publisher's version

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage

Title of the publication container

Heritage

First page or article number

2691

Last page

2703

Volume

2

Issue

4

DOI

10.3390/heritage2040166

WoS (Web of Science)

674297900002

Fields of Science and Technology (FOS)

history-and-archaeology - History and archaeology

Keywords

  • iron gall ink
  • degradation
  • proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE)
  • X-ray diffraction (XRD)
  • Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy attenuation total reflectance (FTIR-ATR)
  • non-destructive techniques

Publication language (ISO code)

eng - English

Alternative identifier (URI)

https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2040166

Rights type:

Open access

Creative Commons license

CC-BY - CC-BY