Shashoua Y. Conservation of Plastics: Materials science, degradation and preservation

Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008. — 300 p.Plastics have had a significant influence on industrial, domestic and cultural aspects of everyday life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The purpose of Conservation of Plastics is to distil the extensive knowledge produced by the polymer and plastics industries, designers, environmental and conservation professionals into a single publication focussing on the preservation and conservation of plastics. The book focusses on three-dimensional objects constructed from semi-synthetic and synthetic plastics. The book progresses from the historical development of plastics, through production and the chemical and physical properties of the materials formed to identification and the factors causing physical, chemical and biological degradation. Tables of optical, physical and chemical properties of the most common plastics in collections, one for each material, are presented in Appendix 1 to assist both selection and identification of plastics. Photographs of flame tests used to identify plastics augment written descriptions. Terms used to define degradation are illustrated with photographs in Appendix. Conservation of Plastics describes and discusses critically the developments in techniques and materials used to conserve semi-synthetic and synthetic plastics and proposes tools to further develop this new discipline. Future directions for conservation of plastics are also proposed.Foreword preface
Acknowledgements
Picture credits
Plastics in collections
Historical development of plastics
Technology of plastics production
Properties of plastics
Identification of plastics in collections
Degradation of plastics
Conservation of plastics
The future of plastics conservation
Optical, physical, thermal and chemical properties of the most frequently collected plastics
Fourier transform infrared spectra of polymers frequently found in collections
Terms used to describe the degradation of plastics