UV filters

Barry Knight <barry<-a t->eng-h< . >gov< . >uk> writes

>does anybody have any experience of removing these films when they
>have reached the end of their life and need to be replaced?  The
>manufacturers' information suggests that they can be removed by
>thoroughly wetting the film, but other anecdotal information
>suggests that this doesn't work for all films.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales several years ago undertook a
program of replacing UV protective film which had been installed in
1981. The product was an earlier version of the Madico film commonly
used now- but in 1981 it was called Saft-ee Shield FSLW-200 Cl HCX.
This 13 year old film had lost its ability to absorb  UV light- old
UV levels were 400uw/lumen and after replacing this film with the
new CLS 200X Clear film it was under 25uw/lumen. We also did UV/vis
spectra curves on the new Madico film before deciding to use it
again-and the graphs were very impressive. Removal was of the old
film was easy- using a spray of water left for a few minutes, the
old film peeled away. The installation team said that they could
also sweat the film off with damp blotters if free water was a
problem- but  actually there was very little excess water and the
process was simple and clean.

Paula Dredge
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:17
                 Distributed: Tuesday, August 19, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-17-001
                                  ***