Abstract

Vegetable-tanned leather artifacts suffer from deterioration in improper conditions, which can be found in different locations such as libraries, museums, stores, and excavation areas. Drying and fragility are common forms of deterioration. Conservators always seek to evaluate materials that have not been used before to adapt them in the field of archaeological conservation. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a mixture of sesame oil and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at different concentrations in treating the dryness and fragility of vegetable-tanned leather. In this study, samples of vegetable-tanned leather were prepared and subjected to accelerated heat ageing. The aged samples were treated with a mixture prepared from sesame oil and PVP with different concentrations. The analytical methods used were digital microscopy, examination using scanning electron microscopy, colour change measurement, mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation) measurement and pH value measurement. The results proved that the mixture used at different concentrations improved the surface morphology of the leather, enhanced tensile strength and elongation, and increased the pH values before and after heat ageing. The best concentration was obtained from a mixture of 50% oil and 50% PVP.