Polyurethane foam

I am currently conserving a puppet partially made out of severely
degraded polyurethane foam. The foam has yellowed and the cell
structure is collapsing and crumbling.  I have been reading up on a
number of consolidation methods, such as those outlines in the
POPART article "On-going studies in consolidation of polyurethane
foams".  These include spraying or dipping the foam in Paraloid B72
(10% in ethanol), drying oils and aminoalkylalkoxysilanes.

I would like to know if anyone has any experience of consolidating
this type of foam or applying these methods to historic objects.

I'm particularly interested in any experiences of consolidating foam
with Paraloid B72 and how successful they found the treatment at
inhibiting crumbling of the material.  Due to the nature of the
object I am working on, dipping the foam would not be an option
available to me, however I could mask off and spray the area.

Rachel Weatherall
Object Conservator
Imperial War Museums
Lambeth Road
London SE1 6HZ
+44 20 7416 9868


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:16
                  Distributed: Sunday, October 6, 2013
                       Message Id: cdl-27-16-026
                                  ***