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<div dir="auto">Hi, Dakota,</div>
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<div dir="auto">You can probably ID the sealant using Attenuated Total Reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The bone or fragment is held against a diamond for analysis. Or if you have just the sealant, you place the powder on the diamond.</div>
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<div dir="auto">This is only good if you have an idea what was used originally so you can compare several samples with your unknown. </div>
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<div dir="auto">The place to look at ASU for ATR IR is Materials Science, or maybe chemistry.</div>
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<div dir="auto">Feel free to contact me directly if you need to.</div>
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<div dir="auto">Cheers,</div>
<div dir="auto">Chris Tacker</div>
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<div id="ms-outlook-mobile-signature" dir="auto">Chris Tacker, Ph.D., P.G.
<div dir="auto">Research Curator of Geology</div>
<div dir="auto">North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences</div>
<div dir="auto">11 West Jones St. | Raleigh, NC 27601</div>
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<div dir="auto">Emails to and from this address are subject to NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Dakota Rowsey <drowsey@asu.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, May 25, 2023 1:39:00 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [External] [Nhcoll-l] Identifying and removing sealant/varnish from fragile bone fragments</font>
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<div>Hello,</div>
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<div>I am looking to safely remove varnish from an approximately 1 <font size="2">
sq cm</font> bone fragment without compromising the integrity of the bone itself. The fragment was collected in the 60s and has likely been unused since that time, so I suspect the varnish/sealant was applied shortly after the fragment was collected. I'm most
interested in just dissolving the sealant but if doing so without compromising the bone requires identifying what kind of sealant was used, tips on identifying that would be appreciated.</div>
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<div>Sincerely,</div>
<div>Dakota<br>
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<span class="x_gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br>
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<div><b>Dakota M. Rowsey, Ph.D.</b> (he/his)<br>
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<div>Vertebrate Collections Manager<br>
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<div>Portal Manager, Consortium of Small Vertebrate Collections<br>
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<div>Arizona State University Natural History Collections<br>
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<div>734 W Alameda Dr.<br>
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<div>Tempe, AZ 85282</div>
<div>(480)727-5870</div>
<div><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i>I acknowledge that I reside and work on the ancestral territories of the Akimel O'odham (Pima) and Piipaash (Maricopa) Indian Communities and am grateful for their care of the Salt River Valley that enables me to live and work here.</i><br>
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