Damage function for silk fabric

Elrefaey, Ibrahim (author), Mahgoub, Hend (author), Garside, Paul (author), Ortega Saez, Natalia (author), Strlič, Matija (author)

Damage functions are a modelling tool to assess the impact of external and internal stressors on heritage. Despite its importance, silk remains little researched in this respect. The impact of tin-phosphate weighting, used to increase the weight of silk applied in the 19th and early 20th centuries, on the chemistry and kinetics of degradation is still unknown. To fill this gap, we conducted degradation experiments demonstrating that while weighting increases silk pH and makes it more chemically stable, it does not change the mechanism of degradation, which is dominated by hydrolysis. Isoperms and isochrones, the latter equipped with uncertainty intervals calculated using Monte-Carlo simulations, are provided based on the determination of the damage threshold, determined using manual tests conducted by conservation experts. Validation and applicability of the developed models are discussed. The models show that acidic silk is at particular risk and requires colder and drier storage environments.

• Language: English
• Keywords: silk fabric, silk degradation, damage function, heritage science, tin-phosphate weighting, hydrolysis, degradation kinetics, isoperms, isochrones, Monte Carlo simulation, preventive conservation, collection storage environments
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 14, art. 487
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-187033
• UDC: 677.37:7.025
• ISSN on article: 3059-3220
• DOI: 10.1038/s40494-026-02710-5
• COBISS.SI-ID: 289551619
• Publication date in RUL: 08.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Npj heritage science
• Shortened title: npj herit. sci.
• Publisher: Nature Portfolio
• ISSN: 3059-3220
• COBISS.SI-ID: 237419523

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: svila, razgradnja svile, funkcija škode, dediščinska znanost, obteževanje s kositrovim fosfatom, hidroliza, kinetika razgradnje, izoperme, izohrone, Monte Carlo simulacije, preventivno konserviranje, okolje shranjevanja zbirk