Araldite

Eleni Loizides <eleni.loizidou<-a t->cytanet< . >com< . >cy> writes

>Our metal conservation lab has been using Araldite AY103 resin and
>HY956 hardener mix for the gapfilling and reconstruction of (but
>also in some cases adhering) archaeological copper alloy artefacts.

The blue discoloration sounds as though copper ions from the
corrosion products on the object have reacted with the amine
component of the Araldite.  This might be because there was an
excess of the amine in the mixture, or the resin was not
sufficiently mixed.

I would tend to prefer Technovit 5071 to Araldite--although I have
not used this particular grade, Technovit resins have been used in
conservation for many years.  Being a polymethyl methacrylate, it
has the advantage over epoxy resins of being easily reversible in
acetone, while epoxies are more difficult to remove.

Barry Knight
St Albans
England


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 28:7
                  Distributed: Saturday, July 19, 2014
                        Message Id: cdl-28-7-004
                                  ***