Del Gaudio, Isabella;
(2022)
Cellulose Acetate in Museums: a study of polymer-water interactions.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Since the discovery of plastics, they have been introduced in every aspect of our daily life, such as Lego, Tupperware, as imitations of natural materials, for instance, ivory, tortoiseshell and leather, therefore, it is not unusual to find plastics be part of a museum collection. Despite the conception that plastics don't degrade, museums are well aware of the difficulties that they face for they conservation and due to their complexity, it is still challenging to understand the link between chemical-physical and mechanical decay mechanisms. For instance, it has been well established that the main decay processes of cellulose acetate (CA) are plasticizer loss and hydrolysis which leads to the emission of acetic acid and chain scission however, it is not well established the relationship between water and CA. Moreover, to slow down the decay mechanisms in museums, it is often recommended to store CA at cold temperatures and to reduce humidity fluctuations however, museums’ recommendations are often ambiguous or not energy friendly. In such a context, this work provides an overview of the condition of plastics present at the Museum of London and Tate, providing observations on the relationship between polymer, storage and condition of the object. Furthermore, a study of the decay mechanisms involving CA and water will be discussed. It is initially demonstrated that humidity influences the loss of plasticizers and therefore, with the increase of humidity there is higher loss of plasticizers. The relationship between plasticized CA and water sorption and diffusion are discussed, showing that plasticizers have a hydrophobic effect with the consequence that due to their loss, the polymer becomes more hydrophilic leading to the increase of water absorption which can led to other decay mechanisms
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Cellulose Acetate in Museums: a study of polymer-water interactions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10155451 |
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