Study on the Aging Mechanism of Textile Relics in Museum Collection Environment by Accelerated Aging Experiment

The protection of textile relics against environment-induced aging is vital when planning exhibitions or storing in the museum. To effectively avoid the deterioration of textile relics caused by improper preservation environment, this study accordingly examines different museum-collection environment (temperature, humidity, light sources, and their combination) in terms of the damage potential they hold for textile relics. Results showed the temperature, humidity, and light source of the museum-collection environment induced the performance of textile relics to varying degrees, among which the influence of temperature and light source was significantly greater than that of humidity, and appropriate humidity was also conducive to easing the performance aging of textile relics induced by the storage environment. In addition, it was found that regardless of the museum collection environment, the performance aging of protein textile relics was significantly greater than that of cellulose textile relics, indicating that the decline in the performance of textile relics was related not only to the museum-collection environment, but also to the fiber molecular composition of textile relics. Therefore, in the subsequent storage process of textile relics, the characteristics of textile relics should be fully considered and classified storage to minimize damage induced by the museum-collection environment.