Fenech, A; Strlic, M; Cassar, M; (2012) The past and the future of chromogenic colour photographs: lifetime modelling using near-infrared spectroscopy & enhancement using hypoxia. Applied Physics A , 106 (2) 411 - 417. 10.1007/s00339-011-6688-2.

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Abstract

Chromogenic colour prints are amongst the most unstable materials found in heritage collections as the information-carrying dyes fade appreciably even in the dark. However, image stability is just one of the numerous properties that photographic companies aspire for in their products, along with constant improvements in colour balance and image development. It is shown that these continuous changes can be exploited to model the date a print was developed, as well as dye stability. As a non-destructive analytical technique, near-infrared spectroscopy in conjunction with multivariate data analysis was used to derive models to predict the year of development of a photographic print (Root Mean Square Error of Cross-Validation, RMSECV = 5.4 years) and dye stability (RMSECV = 1.4 ΔE T , i.e. normalised annual colour change). To examine the possibility to extend the lifetime of the valuable objects during storage, the use of oxygen-depleted environments (hypoxia) was also investigated. The results obtained show that hypoxia should not be used as a blanket approach for all chromogenic prints, as some degraded faster in hypoxic conditions than the control samples degraded in air. However, for most samples hypoxic storage turned out to be beneficial.

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