Polymers for the conservation of cultural heritage

In this paper the results of a research aimed at developing radically innovative process tailored for the restoration of both stone and textiles are reported. For stone, a new polymerisation procedure of poly(urethane-urea) by in situ polymerisation inside stone is described. Through the method set up a good penetration depth of the polymer into the stone pores is achieved, and the material obtained is characterized by high aggregative and consolidating efficiency. For textile materials, a new consolidating procedure, based on the grafting copolymerisation of acrylic monomers on the cellulose substrate has been set up and a high volume grafting chamber has been designed and realized, in order to carry out the grafting procedure onto large textile items of historical interest.