The use of thermal analysis methods for conservation state determination of historical and/or cultural objects manufactured from lime tree wood

Abstract

The TG, DTG and DSC methods were used for investigation of the thermo-oxidative degradation in static air atmosphere and oxygen flow of some sorts of lime tree wood (recent lime tree woods with different preparations, old lime tree woods extracted from some Romanian historical and/or cultural objects). At the progressive heating in the mentioned atmospheres, all the investigated materials exhibit three successive processes, associated with dehydration and two complex thermo-oxidative processes. Each analyzed material has a characteristic thermogram (TG, DTG and/or DSC curve) that can be considered a material “fingerprint”. It was pointed out that the following non-isothermal parameters can be used for distinction between a new and old lime tree wood: mass loss in the first process of thermo-oxidation, ratio between the mass losses in the first and the second processes of thermo-oxidation, the maximum rate of the first process of thermo-oxidation. Consequently, the certification of a patrimonial object manufactured from lime tree wood could be performed by applying the thermal analysis methods.