Evaluation and Optimization of Acanthophyllum Extract in Washing of the Historical Textiles

Contamination is an unwanted threat, which affects the health and the artistic features of a piece of textile. One of the most important concerns in the area of protection of historical woven fabrics is the presentation and use of safe materials and methods for the historic works. So far, many researchers have been working on this field and have caused a lot of changes in this field. The purpose of this research is to apply Acanthophyllum extract to the cleaning and washing of historical cotton fabrics. For this purpose, after preparing the Acanthophyllum, using the Soxhlet method, the extract of hydro-alcoholic was obtained. The extract was applied, as a detergent, to the prepared contaminated samples in the washing step. In the washing process, all constant independent variables were concerned, and only three concentrations of extract, washing frequency and times were considered in the design of the test, using a Central Composite Design (CCD). The detection of delta DE* by spectrophotometer as a dependent variable expresses the effect of extract cleansing rate. The results show that extract concentrations, washing frequency and time are most effective in cleaning the contamination. However, the adopted washing process and the applied materials had the least impact on reducing the strength of the fabric.