Cyclododecane

Arlen Heginbotham <aheginbotham [at] getty__edu> writes

>We are considering using cyclododecane as a temporary consolidant
>for flaking gilding and paint on a very large retablo which is going
>to be deinstalled and moved to a new site for treatment.  Due to
>time limitations, it is not possible to treat the retablo prior to
>deinstallation. We would be interested in hearing from anyone with
>experience using cyclododecane on a large scale, particularly on
>gilding, and particularly regarding the pros and cons of spray
>application vs. melt application.  Any tips on the best solvents to
>use for spraying, practical considerations when working with large
>amounts of melted material, or other concerns or encouragement would
>be appreciated.

Using cyclododecane in form of the prefabricated spray that is
available on the market has the advantage that it can be applied
in a small amount, so it does not stay very long on the treated
surface. The disadvantage is that it can develop a lot of pressure
while spraying. Therefore it is not possible to treat a smaller area
(just a few centimeters of diameter) and fragile flakes of paint can
be blown away by the spray. So the application of melted
cyclododecane, which stays on the surface pretty long (several
months) would be the safer alternative.

Sophie Haake
Student of the University of Applied Art and Science, Hildesheim


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:8
                   Distributed: Tuesday, July 3, 2001
                        Message Id: cdl-15-8-003
                                  ***