The Modification Study Of Sodium Silicate And Its Application For The Protection Of Ancient Ivory

The probability feasibility for protecting Jin Sha ancient ivory using modified sodium silicate was studied in the present paper. Infrared spectrometer, Scanning electrical mirror and material test machine were used to investigate the structure and properties of modified sodium silicate. The prescription for modified sodium silicate was optimized also.With the porous light quality insulation brick as the simulated body of ancient ivory, modified sodium silicate material has been used in the simulation experiment of consolidating ancient ivory and the strength of simulated body has been tested with material test machine. The result shows that the strength and anti-humidity of the simulated ancient ivory were raised dramatically by immersion method with modified sodium silicate.Ancient ivory sample, soaked in modified sodium silicate, consolidated by the vacuum soaking equipment in the oven of constant temperature 37℃for more than 30 days still maintain original form and do not crack. When we do anti-ultraviolet aging experiment on the consolidated ancient ivory, we find after the ultraviolet lamp of 500 W shines for 112.5 hours, the shape look of ancient ivory does not change basically. So modified sodium silicate can basically serve the purpose of protecting ancient ivory.In the vacuum equipment, greater piece of ancient ivory has also been consolidated by modified sodium silicate. The result shows that this method can also serve the purpose of protecting ancient ivory.Therefore, according to the principle of choosing cultural relic-protecting material and internal structural characteristic of ancient ivory, it is relatively reasonable to choose modified sodium silicate for protecting ancient ivory.