Sessile drops imbibition over nano porous substrates : application for art painting restoration*

Art painting restoration aims to restore and preserve the integrity of a painting. Most of the techniques consist of depositing solvents on the surface of the painting to dissolve the varnish layer. However the sublayers can be damaged by the penetration of the solvent, possibly resulting in swelling or cracking processes. Due to the physical and chemical complexity of the pictorial layer, we propose to study solvent penetration in model nano porous media obtained by controlled drying of aqueous dispersions of silica nanoparticles. We present the dynamics of imbibition of sessile solvent drops on porous media with different pore sizes. Three different regimes in the evolution of the drop size with time are identified. Our experimental set-up provides a precise direct quantification of the different flows outside and through the porous media. Different experimental techniques are used to characterize the porous media : neutron imaging to determine the permeability and microindentation testing to estimate the mechanical properties of the media after the imbibition process.