Storing plastic

I am currently a student on the BA (Hons) Conservation and
Restoration Programme at University of Lincoln. I am undertaking a
project on storage system for plastic collections (may be focused on
cellulose nitrate) as my chosen subject for my dissertation. I am
carrying out some experiments with Activated Charcoal Cloth (ACC)
and possibly other scavengers, such as zeolite molecular sieves for
deteriorated cellulose nitrate samples. I am also looking at the use
of a ventilated storage system.

The project aims to not only confirm the effectiveness of ACC (other
scavengers) as Yvonne Shashoua and other authors have indicated, but
also to assess and compare the ease of its use in practice; cost
effectiveness between the methods and other passive approaches to
plastic collections. I would like to investigate issues around the
lifetime of the cloth, and most effective and suitable methodology
for those institutes with limited conservation resources.

My dissertation will focus ultimately on practical consideration
with regard to the passive conservation of plastic collections, so
your information will be valuable in this regard. I would also
appreciate any information on the ACC and other
scavengers/preventive conservation methods to plastics that you are
able to provide, for example;

    *   Particular product names/types of ACC/other scavenger you
        have used/are using

    *   Nature of objects, stored/displayed with ACC/other
        scavengers and how

    *   Ease of use in practices.

    *   Any particular concerns about ACC/other scavengers.
        e.g.reemitting vapour when saturated, how to tell when
        saturated

    *   Any particular concerns about passive conservation or
        storage systems for plastic collections

    *   Methodology for conservation of plastic collections, you
        have used / are using/wish to use, and its effectiveness or
        concerns you may have for a potential conservation plan

Kaori Asai
BA (Hons) Conservation and Restoration
University of Lincoln


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:47
                 Distributed: Friday, February 7, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-47-018
                                  ***