Sunbrella fabric for lining

At CCMC we have a sample of an acrylic woven fabric, manufactured by
"Sunbrella", which is used for awnings and sun-blinds.  The fabric,
which is pigmented and coloured to various shades, has been
suggested for potential use as a support when lining an oil painting
on canvas.

The product test sample, coloured and named 'Heather-brown' is quite
stiff and has a tight warp and weft.  According to the Sunbrella
product information (Radins Australia), the base cloth is "100%
pigmented acrylic fibre.  It has an unidentified thermosetting resin
coating", which includes "powerful fungicides, and fuoropolymer
(sic) fabric protector which imparts water and soil repellency to
the product". The fabric is described as being chemically resistant
and inert.

I would like to test this fabric with BEVA adhesive (both film and
gel to see whether it could be suitable as a fabric lining support
and to observe how it behaves with heat / pressure simulating normal
lining processes.

Has anyone had experience with using this fabric during a 'real
time' lining process so that its behaviour and efficacy might be
assessed? I am interested to see if Sunbrella acrylic fabric
shrinks/ expands during heating (at 65 deg C +/- 5 deg. C) at larger
scale, as has been observed with some other substituted synthetic
fabrics suggested for lining.

Additionally does anyone know anything about the behaviour of the
'so called' coating materials (thermosetting resin, fungicides and
the fluoropolymer (sic)) under heating/ pressure and or their
deleterious effects on the paint/ paint layer which might occur
during standard lining processes or over the long term?

Caroline Fry
Painting Conservator
The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation
The University of Melbourne
99 Shiel Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051
Australia
+61 +3 9348 5700
Fax: +61 +3 348 5656


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:22
                 Distributed: Monday, October 22, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-22-016
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