Freeze drying
Contributors: Alex Garcia-Putnam
Through low pressure and freezing temperatures, sublimation can occur, dehydrating or removing the water from an object.
Related Terms[edit | edit source]
sublimation, lyophilization
Synonyms in English[edit | edit source]
Translation[edit | edit source]
| English | freeze-drying |
| French | lyophilisation |
| Spanish | |
| Portuguese | |
| Italian | |
| German | |
| Russian | |
| Arabic | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 冷凍乾燥 |
Discussion[edit | edit source]
Freeze-drying allows the water to be removed from an object in a controlled way. This is critical in the conservation of waterlogged artifacts, such as those from maritime environments. Freeze-drying can be done by simply freezing the object at a low temperature which allows natural sublimation to occur, or in a more aggressive treatment such as vacuum freeze-drying, where the drying takes place in a vacuum (CCI 2013).
Wooden artifacts respond well to freeze-drying, as do metals and other artifactual materials. Bone however should never been freeze-dried, as it will degrade rapidly under such conditions (CCI 2013).
References[edit | edit source]
CCI. 2013. Vacuum Freeze-Drying Archaeological Artifacts. http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/publications/notes/4-2-eng.aspx
