I am not a preservation scientist or even an knowledgeable audiophile, but an archives conservator charged with the task of researching best practises for digitization of magnetic media. So, my question may seem naive: is it known whether CDs are laminated with an adhesive? and if so, is it known which adhesive this is? It seems to me that a different process. such as heat or pressure lamination would be more appropriate? Bev Lambert, Archives Conservator Provincial Archives at The Rooms St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
CDs are not laminated at all. Commercial discs have the information pressed into the polycarbonate, then the alumin(i)um is deposited, the top receives an acrylic lacquer and optionally overcoating and printing are applied. A CD-R has the dye in a layer of the polycarbonate which then holds the information; the metal layer is uniform and the lacquer and optional overcoating and printing are applied. A CD-RW is similar but the information is held in the alloy layer (change of state).
Mike -- mrichter@xxxxxxx http://www.mrichter.com/