Azolini, Francesca;
Curran, Katherine;
Da Ros, Simoní;
Caruana, Daren;
Gibson, Adam;
(2024)
New perspective on plastics cleaning: assessing the impact of laser cleaning on cellulose acetate.
In:
Future Talks 023. Materials Matter. Cold and Current Cases in the Conservation of the Modern.
(pp. pp. 1-23).
The Design Museum: Munich, Germany.
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Abstract
A 2019 UCL survey at Tate (Lee et al. 2023) and the 2008-2012 project POPART (EU 7th Framework Programme project Preservation of Plastic Artefacts in Museum Collections) showed that dust and ingrained dirt are common causes of damage to plastic museum objects. Cleaning strategies for plastics are currently limited and not completely effective (due to sensitivity to aqueous and solvent-based systems, permanence of residues and potential mechanical damage caused by the cleaning process itself). Even though laser technology has been exploited successfully for cleaning heritage objects for more than thirty years, its use on plastics remains relatively unexplored. This study will help understand the impact of Nd:YAG laser radiation at 1064 nm on both clear and artificially soiled plasticised cellulose acetate undergoing accelerated ageing conditions (70°C, 80% relative humidity), as well as no accelerated ageing. The surface appearance, colour and chemical composition (namely plasticiser content and degree of substitution) of the irradiated samples were assessed through optical microscopy, visible spectrophotometry/colourimetry and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed satisfactory cleaning efficiency and no detectable chemical changes in the polymer due to the laser. This suggests that lasers can play a role in cleaning plastics, especially when traditional methods are unsuitable.
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