Understanding the impact in relative humidity fluctuations on porous underbound paint layers
In September 2022, the German Museums Association published a ‘Recommendation on energy savings through the introduction of an extended climate corridor for museum air conditioning’. This recommendation advocates for a widened climate corridor for museum air conditioning and thus for extending the previously narrowly defined target values for temperature and relative humidity.
The recommended climate corridor has a humidity range of 40-60% (max. +/- 5 percentage points within 24 hours) and a temperature range of 18°C-26°C (max. +/-2 °C within 24 hours).
These guidelines are unproblematic for many materials and significantly reduce energy usage and present significant progress in sustainability in collection care.
Nevertheless the German Museums Association called for conservators and scientists to carry out the risk assessment for particularly climate-sensitive artefacts. Porous paint layers that contain a small amount of hygroscopic binder form one of these particularly climate-sensitive material categories.
With our project we aim to contribute to this risk assessment through investigating the impact of cyclically repeating fluctuation of the relative humidity in the range of 40-60% on the cohesion of porous paint layers with hygroscopic binders and on the contact area between the pigment surface and the binder.
At a Glance
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Research project | Understanding the impact in relative humidity fluctuations on porous underbound paint layers |
| Management | Prof. Dr. Ester S.B. Ferreira |
| Faculty | Faculty of Cultural Sciences |
| Institute | CICS - Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences |
| Persons involved | Charlotte N. Stahmann, Emma Helfrich, Than Vu, Prof. Dr. Jörg Luderich, Andreas Käckel. |
| Sponsors | DBU - Deutsches Bundesstiftung Umwelt More |
| Duration | 29.05.2023-31.08.2025 |
Gallery
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Different paint systems tested in the project (Image: CICS TH-Köln)
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Pigments and binders used for preparation of mock-ups (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Climatic Chamber During Accelerated Ageing (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Adhesive Cohesion Tests (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Scan Adhesive Cohesion Test (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Abrasive cohesion test (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Abrasive Cohesion Test Results (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
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Scanning Abrasive Cohesion Test Results (Image: CICS - TH-Köln)
