Evaluating the Combined Efficacy of Polymers with Fungicides for Protection of Museum Textiles against Fungal Deterioration in Egypt

Abstract

Fungal deterioration is one of the highest risk factors for damage of historical textile objects in Egypt. This paper represents both a study case about the fungal microflora deteriorating historical textiles in the Egyptian Museum and the Coptic museum in Cairo, and evaluation of the efficacy of several combinations of polymers with fungicides for the reinforcement of textiles and their prevention against fungal deterioration. Both cotton swab technique and biodeteriorated textile part technique were used for isolation of fungi from historical textile objects. The plate method with the manual key was used for identification of fungi. The results show that the most dominant fungi isolated from the tested textile samples belong to Alternaria, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Penicillium and Trichoderma species. Microbiological testing was used for evaluating the usefulness of the suggested conservation materials (polymers combined with fungicides) in prevention of the fungal deterioration of ancient Egyptian textiles. Textile samples were treated with 4 selected polymers combined with two selected fungicides. Untreated and treated textile samples were deteriorated by 3 selected active fungal strains isolated from ancient Egyptian textiles. This study reports that most of the tested polymers combined with the tested fungicides prevented the fungal deterioration of textiles. Treatment of ancient textiles by suggested polymers combined with the suggested fungicides not only reinforces these textiles, but also prevents fungal deterioration and increases the durability of these textiles. The tested polymers without fungicides reduce the fungal deterioration of textiles but do not prevent it completely.