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UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage

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COMPLEX

COMPLEX explored a system dynamics approach to understanding and managing the degradation of plastic museum objects in collections. This is an interdisciplinary project where conservators work with scientists to develop innovative methods to maintain plastic objects’ integrity and significance in collections.

COMPLEX explored the degradation of plastic artefacts in museum collections as systems, looking at how different degradation processes interact with each other. The project created mathematical models to predict how material properties change over time. It was an interdisciplinary project which involved chemists, conservation scientists and chemical engineers and collaborations with the Museum of London, Tate, Process System Enterprise and Lacerta Technology. The project focussed on cellulose acetate, as it’s known to be both common in collections and problematic in terms of stability. The project has been very successful. We have produced new insights into the way water, acetic acid and plasticiser interact with each other as cellulose acetate degrades. We have measured fundamental material properties such as diffusion and partition coefficients and explored how these depend on material and environmental parameters. We have explored a wide range of analytical tools for understanding material properties such as FTIR and NMR spectroscopy and Dynamic Vapour Sorption. And through our mathematical modelling work, we have created tools that can be used to explore the impact of conservation decisions on object stability, such as the use of cold storage or the impact of sealed versus open storage.

The UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage has a vibrant and very active research group focussed on plastic heritage. Current projects include the analysis of synthetic and semi-synthetic textiles in museum collections, an exploration of the use of laser cleaning on plastic objects, an investigation of the risks of using Raman spectroscopy on plastics and a study of the balance between environmental sustainability and conservation requirements when storing polymer-based archival materials.

Vision

Vision

COMPLEX aims to understand, model and predict the degradation of plastics in museum collections.

Objectives

Objectives

COMPLEX has two key objectives: to explore a system dynamics approach to polymer degradation and to provide evidence-based strategies for storing and displaying plastic objects in museums.

Summary

Summary

COMPLEX is an interdisciplinary project which explores a novel approach to polymer degradation, aiming to help museums, art galleries and archives preserve the plastic objects in their collections.

COMPLEX team

People

The COMPLEX team is constituted of people of different backgrounds who share the same passion about the preservation of plastics in museums and collections.

Milestones

Milestones

2018 has been a prolific research year for the COMPLEX project. See list of the teams activities and achievements here.