TY - CONF A1 - Osterloh, Kurt A1 - Nusser, A. T1 - X-ray and neutron radiological methods to support the conservation of wooden artworks soaked with a polluting impregnant 'carbolineum' T2 - ECNDT 2014 - 11th European conference on non-destructive testing (Proceedings) N2 - Wooden artworks residing in churches for centuries inevitably suffered from decaying processes such as Wood worm infestation. About 100 years ago, this process was ceased with a polluting coal tar extract 'Carbolineum', a treatment usually applied to railway sleepers. Nowadays, this lead to undesired effects not only of causing dark stains on the surface of the treated sculptures but also in unimpaired release of traces of harmful substances into the atmosphere perceptible as the typical smell of coal tar oil. To resolve this problem, the knowledge of the internal structure could provide a support for this effort. As an example, sculptures from an epitaph in a church in northern Germany were subjected to X-ray and neutron computed tomography (CT). The purpose of using neutrons was to get information about the distribution of the impregnant Carbolineum. It consists of a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which should increase the absorption of neutrons. In contrast, X-rays are rather poorly absorbed by such substances as compared to the wood matrix. All radiographic approaches revealed traces of previous conservation measures that were not always documented in detail. Comparing the neutron images with those from the X-ray interrogation some differences became obvious indicating varied material compositions. Nails e.g. were clearly visible in the X-ray images rather than in the neutron ones. Some less visibly stained parts of the sculptures correspond with obviously replaced materials in the inside. These results will be used to identify ways how to treat the infested artworks. T2 - ECNDT 2014 - 11th European conference on non-destructive testing CY - Prague, Czech Republic DA - 2014-10-06 KW - Radiographic testing (RT) KW - Computed tomography (CT) KW - Cultural heritage KW - Radiological methods KW - Carbolineum KW - Wooden artworks KW - Neutron-CT KW - X-ray CT KW - Neutron radiology PY - 2014 UR - http://www.ndt.net/events/ECNDT2014/app/content/Paper/155_Osterloh.pdf SN - 978-80-214-5018-9 SP - 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-32304 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -