UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Effects of NO2 and acetic acid on the stability of historic paper

Menart, E; de Bruin, G; Strlic, M; (2014) Effects of NO2 and acetic acid on the stability of historic paper. CELLULOSE , 21 (5) 3701 - 3713. 10.1007/s10570-014-0374-4. Green open access

[thumbnail of art_10.1007_s10570-014-0374-4.pdf]
Preview
PDF
art_10.1007_s10570-014-0374-4.pdf

Download (428kB)

Abstract

This research investigates degradation of historic paper in polluted environments during long-term dark storage. In an innovative experiment, degradation rates at realistic pollution levels are compared with degradation rates in the absence of pollution, using a set of real historic papers. The most abundant pollutants in repositories in post-industrial environments are taken into account: acetic acid and nitrogen dioxide. Their action was assessed in terms of reduction of ‘handling’ (as defined by decrease in degree of polymerisation) and ‘display’ (as defined by discolouration) lifetimes. Extrapolations to room conditions enabled lifetime predictions in conditions that are comparable to a real archival or library repository environments while prediction uncertainties were analytically evaluated to assess the significance of conclusions. While 10 ppb of NO2 does reduce the handling lifetime of almost all types of paper, their predicted lifetimes were still assessed to be several millennia, with the exception of acidic paper. Acetic acid at concentrations that are typical for archival and library repositories (<100 ppb) has significantly less effect than NO2 while it does not affect display lifetimes. From a conservation management perspective, it needs to be addressed whether the predicted reductions in otherwise significant handling lifetimes are of real concern and whether air filtration in archival and library repositories is justified.

Type: Article
Title: Effects of NO2 and acetic acid on the stability of historic paper
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s10570-014-0374-4
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0374-4
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1443423
Downloads since deposit
168Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item