https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2819-7055
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ABSTRACT
Photo-oxidation has been identified as a main cause of the light-induced color and brightness changes to which historical objects in exhibitions may be subject. Therefore, a possible approach to reduce the risk of light damage is the reduction of the oxygen content in the atmosphere surrounding these objects. In order to estimate the efficiency of this approach, this work presents a comparison of the light induced changes in the reflectance spectra of a series of 30 historical colorants kept in normal ambient air with those observed in a second series stored in nitrogen. Several of them have not been studied in anoxia yet. Chemically inert binder and substrate were used for sample preparation in order to minimize their influence on photochemical processes. In contrast to previous studies on radiative damage in anoxia, the samples were irradiated by various narrow band LED light sources covering the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It becomes obvious that while a few colorants exhibit no or only minor effects due to the reduced oxygen concentration the majority benefitted significantly from this measure. Only four metal-containing pigments suffered increased damage in the nitrogen atmosphere, while three showed a complex behavior and could not be assigned to one of these groups.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant [grant number M05] from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution passed by the German Bundestag and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States. The authors thank Till Weickhardt for assistance with sample preparation and development of data processing software.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).