Oleophilic fabric

A few years ago, I converted a micro-fiber polymer fabric into small
pads for cleaning printing ink from printing plates. We called them
oleophilic--because they absorbed oil based ink and held it--while
the water in the press fountain solution could easily be wrung out.
We tried to sell these to printers--but could not convince the
printers that they were worth trying. They continue to use cotton
pads--which do not have an affinity for oil and which do not clean
plates nearly as well.

A few months ago, a wax candle overflowed and the hot wax dripped
down our TV set onto our brand new nylon carpet. I was able to
remove the candle wax completely by covering the spot with the
micro-fiber fabric and applying a household clothes iron. The wax
melted and was pulled up into the fabric--leaving no trace behind.

It seems to me there might be uses for this fabric in museums and
libraries to remove oils and waxes from papers and fabrics and other
relatively flat surfaces--and as a general cleaning cloth when
trying to remove oils from any object.

We have electron microscope photos of the material (and also wool
and cotton) which clearly show that the micro-fiber material has a
very high surface to volume ratio. We believe this high surface
volume and some unexplained factor causes the great affinity for
oils and waxes.

I would be happy to send small swatches of this material at no
charge to anyone who will give them a try and let me know if they
have potential use in museums and libraries. If they are useful, we
will probably add them to our product line.

Martin R. Carbone
1227 De La Vina St.
Santa Barbara CA 93101
805-965-5574
Fax 805-965-2414

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:31
                Distributed: Tuesday, November 23, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-31-015
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