Removal of Varnish Layers verifying with UV-vis Spectroscopy

Authors

Vaughn Koch, University of Northern IowaFollow
Treasure Divis, University of Northern IowaFollow

Files

Document Type

Poster

Keywords

Mastodons--Iowa--Franklin County; Fossils--Collection and preservation--Iowa;

Description

According to the Roy J. Carver grant, one of the goals is to get the mastodon tusk back to its original state. The preservation methods have not been well documented, therefore determining what the best solvents to remove the different layers needs to be known. In order to do this, various solvents will be used and confirmed through UV-vis spectroscopy with a Diffuse Reflectance Accessory (DRA) attached. This will measure the percentage of light that gets reflected back towards the detector. The image to the left shows the various layers that have been used in preserving the tusk, including some organic and inorganic material. As the layers are removed the composition will be checked by T. Divis, which will also confirm when there is only Tusk material remaining on the sample. Due to the size of the Tusk (see below), it is important to know what solvent will remove the most layers, and work the most efficiently.

Publication Date

12-2017

Faculty Advisor

Joshua A. Sebree

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Publisher

Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright

©2017 Vaughn Koch and Treasure Divis

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Koch, Vaughn and Divis, Treasure, "Removal of Varnish Layers verifying with UV-vis Spectroscopy" (2017). Mastodon Tusk Project Posters. 7.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/mastodon_posters/7