Consolidation of Fragile Ancient Silk

Silk is a defining symbol of Chinese civilization. However, as a protein-based fiber, ancient silk textiles are highly prone to deterioration during long-term burial-becoming brittle, powdery, or even disintegrating upon touch. Traditional consolidation methods often suffer from limited applicability or long-term risks such as irreversibility, yellowing, and stiffening. This book presents a conservation technique for fragile silk based on the concept of 'homologous consolidation.' Using silk fibroin (SF) as the primary consolidating material and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) as the crosslinking agent, the approach achieves effective reinforcement through chemical crosslinking. The main contents include: optimization of the SF/EGDE consolidation process; systematic investigation of the consolidation mechanism using stress-strain analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, solid-state NMR, amino acid analysis, and XRD; and two case studies on relics from Southern Song Dynasty tombs-the uncovering of water-saturated silk fabrics from the tomb of Shi Song in Zhejiang (over 4,000 fragments successfully uncovered), and the consolidation and restoration of a puce unlined clothing with printed gold and painted lace from the tomb of Huang Sheng in Fujian. Key features of this approach: the consolidating material is chemically homologous to the original artifact, minimizing secondary damage; the process is mild and controllable, preserving the artifact’s appearance and hand feel; consolidated silk exhibits significantly improved mechanical properties and thermal stability, along with excellent aging resistance and re-treatability. This book serves as a reference for researchers and practitioners in cultural heritage conservation, archaeological science, and materials science, as well as a supplementary text for graduate students. It is hoped that this homologous consolidation system will offer new insights and methods for the conservation of fragile organic cultural relics.