No Access

Mechanical Characterization of Linen Fibers: The Turin Shroud Dating

Giulio Fanti

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

E-mail Address: giulio.fanti@unipd.it

Search for more papers by this author

and

Roberto Basso

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

E-mail Address: roberto.basso@unipd.it

Corresponding author.

Search for more papers by this author

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218539317500061Cited by:0 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

As the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud (TS) was debatable also from a statistical point of view, new dating methods have been proposed. This paper presents the result of an improved mechanical dating. A recent cyclic-load machine has been improved to better fix fibers under test by using a special support designed for the purpose. The mechanical behavior of linen fibers of three different ages are measured and compared discussing these results in reference to the complex structure of aged linen fibers; the three samples are a linen fiber from an Egyptian mummy of 27 $^{th}$ Century B.C.; a linen fiber coming from the TS, and a recent linen fiber. This machine allowed to confirm the previous results regarding the TS mechanical dating, showing that these results are again compatible with the First Century A.D., the period in which Jesus Christ lived in Palestine. The improved machine also showed that the complex nonlinear behavior of the fibers is also due to the packing of the Secondary Cell Wall of the linen fibers, mostly composed of micro fibrils, that produces a memory-effect. The stiffening of the linen fibers with the loading increasing is a property detected for all the tested fibers that must not be forgotten also in the construction of flax fibers based composites.

Keywords:

References

1. K. Charlet et al., Tensile deformation of a flax fiber, in Mesomechanics. pp. 233–236. Elsevier Ltd. 2009. Crossref, Google Scholar
2. M. C. Symington et al., Tensile testing of cellulose based natural fibers for structural composite applications. J. of Comp. Materials 43(9) (2009) 1083–1108. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
3. J. Andersons et al., Strength distribution of elementary flax fibers, Comp. Sci. & Tech. 65(3) (2005) 693–702. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
4. ASTM. D3822-07, Standard Test Method for Tensile Properties for Single Textile Fibers. ASTM, Pennsylvania, USA, 1–10. Google Scholar
5. ASTM. D76-99 Standard Specifications for Tensile Testing Machines for Textiles, ASTM. Pennsylvania, USA, 1–8, 2005. Google Scholar
6. G. Wang et al., Microtension test method for measuring tensile properties of individual cellulosic fibers, Wood and Fiber Science 43(3) (2011) 251–261. Web of Science, Google Scholar
7. N. Torulf, Flax and hemp fibers and their composites $\dots,$ in micromechanical modeling of natural fibers for composite materials. KFS. ed. Lund. KFS, (2006) 1–69. Google Scholar
8. C. Baley, Analysis of the flax fibers tensile behavior and analysis of the tensile stiffness increase, Composites : A, Appl. Sci. & Manufacturing 33(7) (2002) 939–948. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
9. G. Fanti, P. Malfi and F. Crosilla, Mechanical and opto-chemical dating of the Turin Shroud, MATEC Web of Conferences, Vol. 36 (2015), Workshop of Paduan Scientific Analysis on the Shroud, http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20153601001. Google Scholar
10. G. Fanti and P. Malfi, Multi-parametric micro-mechanical dating of single fibers coming from ancient flax textiles, Textile Res. J. 2013, SAGE Pub., Vol. 84, Issue 7 (2014). Google Scholar
11. G. Fanti and P. Malfi, A new cyclic-loads machine for the measurement of micro-mechanical properties of single flax fibers coming from the Turin Shroud, AIMETA Congress, Torino (2013). Google Scholar
12. R. Basso, G. Fanti and P. Malfi, A new cyclic-loads machine for the measurement of mechanical parameters of single flax fibers coming from the Turin Shroud for dating purposes, in Proc. of 27th Int. Congress of Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering, Comadem 2014., 16–18 Sept., Brisbane, Australia (2014). Google Scholar
13. E. J. Jumper, A. D. Adler, J. P. Jackson, S. F. Pellicori, J. H. Heller and J. R. Druzik, “A Comprehensive Examination of the Various Stains and Images on the Shroud of Turin,” Arch. Chemistry III, ACS Advances in Chemistry No. 205, J. B. Lambert, Editor, Chapter 22, American Chemical Society, Washington D.C., 1984, pp. 447–476. Google Scholar
14. P. E. Damon, D. J. Donahue and B. H. Gore et al., Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin, Nature 337 (1989) 611–615. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
15. R. N. Rogers, Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin, Thermochimica Acta 425(1–2) (2005) 189–194. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
16. M. Riani, A. C. Atkinson, G. Fanti and F. Crosilla, Regression analysis with partially labelled regressors: Carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin, J. Statistical Comput. (2012). Google Scholar
17. E. J. Jumper, A. D. Adler, J. P. Jackson, S. F. Pellicori, J. H. Heller and J. R. Druzik, A comprehensive examination of the various stains and images on the Shroud of Turin, Arch. Chemistry III, ACS Advances in Chemistry No. 205, J. B. Lambert, Editor, Chapter 22, American Chemical Society, Washington D.C., (1984) 447–476. Google Scholar
18. G. Fanti, Optical features of flax fibers coming from the Turin Shroud, ATSI 2014, Workshop on Advances in the Turin Shroud Investigation, Bari, September 4–5 (2014), http://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2015/02/shsconf_atsi2014_00004.pdf. Google Scholar
19. G. Fanti and P. Malfi, The Shroud of Turin Shroud — First Century after Christ!, Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd., Singapore (2015). Google Scholar
20. S. Biasi, Support of fibers construction for a cyclic-loads machine $\dots,$ Degree Thesis, Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Padua University, Tutors G. Fanti & R. Basso. Google Scholar
21. G. Fanti, Stress distribution measurement in composite space ropes, Fourth International Conference on Tethers in Space, Washington, U.S.A., (1995). Google Scholar