Fiber Analysis Lab

At different points during the semester, several of us were able to make field trips to Vassar’s Chemistry Department for a fiber analysis lab. Stuart Belli and Edie Stout generously helped us to use several different instruments for analysis, and to understand the principles of chemistry behind them.

We learned to use the infrared spectrometer and their new handheld XRF (X-ray Fluorescence). Both of these instruments are non-invasive – that means we don’t have to damage the garment by cutting out a sample to test. We can just insert a section of the textile right into the infrared spectrometer, or point the “ray gun” of the handheld XRF right at our garment. Other techniques for fiber analysis, from burn tests to microscopy, require that a sample is taken from the object.

For example, while using the XRF the metallic threads in the brocade of the Russell and Allen ball gown (VC1992003) were identified as copper, while the golden heel was confirmed to be made of gold leaf.

We’re just getting started with this kind of analysis; future student work may involve building a library of spectra of known fiber samples, so that we can better identify unknown samples.