Investigating Liquid CO2 to Clean Textiles and Basketry

Nancy Odegaard

Nancy Odegaard Arizona State Museum-University of Arizona, Tucson

Abstract

This presentation illustrates the use of micron-sized snow particles to transfer and displace particles of surface soiling on delicate textile and basketry surfaces. Liquid CO2 from a tank (with syphon) connected to a valve and a nozzle expands without exchanging heat, thus becoming a mixture of gaseous CO2 and dry ice that surrounds the soil particles with a gas envelope which slides over the object surface, and then the CO2 volatilizes into the air. This momentum transfer and displacement system is dry, non-conductive, nonabrasive, and non-toxic. Our process of testing this technique is described.
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Author Biography

Nancy Odegaard, Arizona State Museum-University of Arizona, Tucson

Nancy Odegaard PhD, FAIC, FIIC is Conservator and Head of the Preservation Division at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona in Tucson. She is also a Professor in the Materials Science & Engineering Department, the School of Anthropology, and Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona. She holds a PhD in Resource, Environment, & Heritage Science from the University of Canberra, a MA degree in museum studies and anthropology from George Washington University and an advanced certificate in ethnographic and archaeological conservation from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Her research with materials characterization tests, pesticide residue detection and removal, human remains, object handling, ceramics, and basketry has resulted in publications that are widely used.