Replicas of Iron Tools from a Byzantine Shipwreck

Abstract

This study considers the impregnation of wood by two acrylic monomers, methylmethacrylate and butylmethacrylate, and examines their subsequent polymerization in wood samples initiated chemically and by gammaradiation. The results of the polymerization were assessed on the basis of the resultant polymer content of the wood, and it was found that polymerization initiated by gammaradiation was more effective. The influence of the consolidation by monomer polymerization upon the properties of the wood (hygroscopicity, water absorption, swelling andcompression strength alorig the fibres) was found to depend on the polymer content of the wood, on the polymercomposition and on the type and structure of the wood. Copolymerization of methylmethacrylate and butylmethacrylate has no benefit on the properties of the wood.