Determining the selective impregnation of waterlogged archaeological woods with poly(ethylene) glycols mixtures by differential scanning calorimetry

The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique was demonstrated to be a reliable and fast tool for the investigation of the selective impregnation of archaeological woods with poly(ethylene) glycols (PEGs) mixtures. To this aim, waterlogged archaeological woods were impregnated by using aqueous mixtures of PEG 4000 and PEG 400 as well as mixtures of these polymers in the melt state. The efficiency of the treatments was also estimated by determining the total consolidant content entrapped into the cavities of degraded wood by means of DSC and thermogravimetry.