Characteristics of Ancient Ship Wood from Taicang of the Yuan Dynasty

Xinyou Liu; Xin Xu; Xinwei Tu; Wanrong Ma; Houyi Huang; Anca Maria Varodi

doi:10.3390/ma16010104

Characteristics of Ancient Ship Wood from Taicang of the Yuan Dynasty

Materials (Basel). 2022 Dec 22;16(1):104. doi: 10.3390/ma16010104.

Authors

Xinyou Liu^{1

2

3

4}, Xin Xu², Xinwei Tu², Wanrong Ma², Houyi Huang², Anca Maria Varodi³

Affiliations

¹ Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² College of Furnishing and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Str. Longpan No.159, Nanjing 210037, China.
³ Faculty of Furniture Design and Wood Engineering, Transilvania University of Brașov, 500036 Brasov, Romania.
⁴ Advanced Analysis and Testing Center, Nanjing Forestry University, Str. Longpan No.159, Nanjing 210037, China.

Abstract

In this study, wood samples extracted from the Taicang ancient ship, dating back to the Yuan Dynasty, were investigated to study the characteristics of waterlogged archaeological wood. The macroscopic characteristics and microscopic structures were used to identify the wood species. To assess the degree of degradation of the waterlogged archaeological wood, X-ray diffraction (XRD), nanoindentation (NI), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to compare the new and ancient wood samples from the same species. The microscopic structures of the samples were identified as Pinus massoniana. The XRD and nanoindentation results revealed that the crystallinity index of the cellulose decreased from 41.07% to 33.85%, the elastic modulus was reduced by 20.90%, and hardness was reduced by 55.6% compared with the new wood. The FTIR spectra revealed that biological deterioration occurred in the cellulose and hemicellulose, but there was no noticeable change in the lignin content. These results provide helpful information for the conservation and restoration of ancient ships.

Keywords: FTIR; SEM; XRD; microscopy; nanoindentation; waterlogged archaeological wood.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Nanjing Forestry University Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 163104127), the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFD0600704), and the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Province, China.