Mass Deacidification of Archival Materials using Diethyl Zinc
| Hlavní autori: | , , |
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| Médium: | Článok |
| Jazyk: | angličtina slovenčina |
| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
| On-line prístup: | http://www.viks.sk/chk/res_3_95_123_142.doc |
| Abstrakt: | Conclusions. It can be concluded that homogeneous deacidification occurred with the DEZ process and that the treatment is indeed very effective when archive papers are exposed to air pollutants. No preselection has to be made if only paper is inside the archival boxes. The package of each archival box should apparently not be too tight. It was also shown that the reproducibility of the DEZ is very good, and in all cases an effective amount of alkaline compounds was brought into the paper. The amount of zinc introduced was not representative for the homogeneity, because during the treatment, DEZ reacts with the present acid compounds and turns them into alkaline compounds. It was proven that the measured pH value of the cold water only does not stand for an effective treatment, however the alkaline reserve does, and can be seen as the most important factor for the protection of the paper against acid attack. The performance of the paper can be affected slightly when the papers are treated with DEZ due to the change in the moisture content, but after an effective time the moisture content of the deacidified paper recovers. Finally, it should to be considered to standardize the DEZ process for the deacidification of archival papers, although AKZO Chemicals Inc. closed the DEZ plant at Deer Park, Houston, Texas. Someone must to be found to set up a new plant for preserving our cultural heritage. Summaries. The Dutch State Archives decided to use the diethyl zinc process to deacidify part of their collection consisting of 81 km of records dating from 1840 to 1950 on acidic paper. The TNO Centre for Paper and Board Research was therefore commissioned to control this program. TNO stands for the Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research. During the deacidification of 4 batches of the "Colonial Mail Rapport", reference test materials were included for testing the quality and reproducibility of the diethyl zinc deacidification treatment. It was concluded that homogeneous deacidification occurred with the diethyl zinc process and that the treatment protects deacidified archive papers towards such air pollutants as SO2 and NO2. The alkaline reserve can be seen as the most important factor in protecting the paper against acid attack. No preselection is necessary when only paper is inside the archival boxes and no bad odor was found. The reproducibility of the diethyl zinc treatment was very good, and an effective amount of alkaline compounds was brought into the paper. After the treatment, the performance of the paper can be affected slightly due to the change in the moisture content, but this improves after sufficient storage time. The authors conclude that diethyl zinc should be considered as a standard for the deacidification of archival papers. |
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| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
