Effect of Museum Conditions on Historical Dyed Silk Fabric with Madder Dye

Historical textiles suffer from deterioration as a result of exposure to uncontrolled environmental conditions in museums. To establish standard conditions for display of undyed and dyed silk fabrics in Egyptian museums, different artificial aging procedures (thermal, light and chemical) were applied to examine their effects on the physical, mechanical and chemical structure of the silk fiber. Samples of undyed silk and silk dyed with madder with different mordants, iron II sulphate; iron III chloride and copper sulphate were used for this purpose. These aged samples were examined for their surface morphology, color parameters (CIE Lab), mechanical properties, degree of crystallinity, secondary structure analysis and amino acids content.