Application of Infrared Spectroscopical Techniques for Investigation of Archaeological Woods

적외선(赤外線)(IR) 분광법(分光法)에 의한 고목재(古木材) 성상(性狀)의 심지(深知)

Infrared (IR) spectroscopic techniques for the analysis of wood samples and the absorbance spectra of solid woods were presented. KBr pellets were prepared by throughly mixing approximately 300 mg of dried KBr and 1 mg of finely milled wood powder extracted with ethanol-cyclohexane previously. This mixture was made into a transparent disc by means of a pellet-making die (10 ton/$cm^2$ for 10 min). This IR techniques were applied for the analysis of archaeological wood samples. The most notable difference in the IR spectra between the recent and the archaeological waterlogged woods is that the absorption band centered at $1,730cm^{-1}$ was significantly diminished in the waterlogged ones. Total loss of absorption in $1,730cm^{-1}$ might be mainly due to the result of hemicellulose degradation. Another feature indicated by IR spectral comparision are that the degraded waterlogged wood samples showed 1) the increased intensity of the 1,600, 1,500 and $1,270cm^{-1}$ due to the residual lignin and the increased intensity at 1,470 and $1,425cm^{-1}$ due to the degradation of hemicellulose and 2) to the emergence of single band around $1,050cm^{-1}$ instead of three bands at 1,110, 1,060 and $1,040cm^{-1}$ in recent wood due to the degradation of cellulose crystalline. It was revealed from the IR examinations that the first change of wood in the waterlogged situation was the lysis of hemicellulose and the second the lysis of cellulose. It was also suggested that IR spectroscopy could serve a fast method for the investigation on the chemical characteristics of archaeological wood samples.