Bio-based consolidants for waterlogged archaeological wood: Assessment of the performance and optimization of the diagnostic protocol

New bio-based polymers used as consolidants for waterlogged archaeological wood were studied andtheir performance on real wooden samples was assessed. In particular, three oligoamides (oligo ethylene-l-tartaramide, oligo esamethylene-l-tartaramide and copolymer between ethylenediamine, adipic andtartaric acids) and allyl -trehalose/vinyl alcohol (ATR/VOH) copolymer were selected as consolidants.The affinity for wood and the reversibility of the treatments were evaluated together with certain phys-ical properties of treated wood, i.e. maximum water content (MWC), basic density and volumetricshrinkage. A specific diagnostic protocol was optimized in order to obtain reproducible and reliableresults. A good affinity for a degraded wood rich in lignin was demonstrated for all tested consolidants.For what concerns the reversibility of the treatments, the oligoamides showed higher reversibility thanthe ATR/VOH copolymer. The penetration ability was good for all selected products. Good results in termsof MWC reduction and basic density increase were obtained with the oligo esamethylene-L-tartaramide, the oligoethylene-L-tartaramide and the ATR/VOH copolymer.