Synthetic polymers dominate many contemporary art and design collections and are rapidly becoming a significant conservation concern. Surveys have shown that PVC can represent 13% of all plastic objects in such collections and that cellulose acetate, cellulose nitrate and PVC represent 40% of all objects in poor state. With the new and exciting forms of artistic expression that synthetic materials enable, their prevalence is set to increase in the future, which makes the need to understand PVC ever more pressing, as one of the three main “problem” polymers in collections.
Figure 1: Examples of iconic PVC art and design objects. Left: Essuie-mains / Hygiène de l’art, 1971 (inv. no. AM 2006-114), middle: Fauteuil Blow, 1967 (inv. no. AM 2007-1-38), right: Plafonnier, 1968 (inv. no. AM 2007-1-5) from MNAM, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
So far, there has been no major international or national research effort to understand and address the issue of preventive conservation of PVC. Although there is a vast body of knowledge on PVC degradation in the polymer engineering literature, much of it is of limited relevance to degradation at room temperature, which needs to be studied and understood in order to develop evidence-based preventive conservation guidance. Of particular interest will be processes that represent conservation concerns such as discolouration, surface stickiness and cracking, during conditions of long-term storage.
The projects goals are:
- To recognize the fundamental link between chemical degradation and mechanical damage and using this information to develop preventive conservation guidelines for modern heritage and art collections made from poly(vinyl chloride) – PVC.
Planned research:
- Survey real heritage collections using non-destructive analytical tools to determine material composition as well as to quantify the extent of damage by measuring colour, quantifying surface deposits of additives and by measuring the extent of cracking in historical objects.
- In-depth scientific research into more than 70 sacrificial historical samples of PVC in order to obtain compositional data. With these well-defined samples, we will carry out accelerated degradation experiments at various conditions in order to assess the rates of degradation.
- Quantify the accumulated damage and develop models, i.e. damage functions, that quantitatively describe the relationship between rate of degradation, environmental conditions and sample composition.
- Develop preventive conservation scenarios, exploring how the rates of degradation can be slowed down at various combinations of environmental parameters.
Partnership
The project (N1-0241) is funded through the CEUS scheme in collaboration between NCN (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) and ARRS (Slovenian Research Agency) and involves:
- Jagiellonian University, Poland (Krzysztof Ryszard Kruczała)
- Jerzy Haber Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland (Łukasz Bratasz)
- Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana at UL Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology (Matija Strlič, Irena Kralj Cigić)
In collaboration with:
- CRICOTEKA – Centre for Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, Krakow
- Muzej za arhitekturo in oblikovanje, Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana
- Centre Pompidou, Paris
Please contact us for further information or to establish collaboration.
Join our Team: Research Position Available
We are looking for a colleague to join our dynamic team. Ideally, the holder will have a chemistry, chemical engineering or related background, with a passion for cultural heritage.
The following texts are summaries of the official job adverts available here: Post-doctoral Research Asistant (H019001) and Research Fellow (H017004). Candidates should apply for one position only, depending on whether or not they hold a PhD.
For any information about the post, please contact matija.strlic@fkkt.uni-lj.si
Post-doctoral Research Assistant (H019001) at the Department of Analytical Chemistry (research project PVCare) for a fixed-term, full-time contract until 31 December 2024. Job Vacancy (deadline for applications: 22. March 2022)
1. Conditions of employment:
- PhD
- Innovative, able to work as part of a team, good communication and organisational skills
- Knowledge of one world language
2. Brief description of duties
- Scientific and technical research
- Working with research funders
- Preparation of written reports, research papers and expert reports
- Participation in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
- Administrative support related to acquisition of research equipment and its maintenance, procurement of consumables
- Other tasks in the post-holder’s area of expertise as assigned by the HSLL Lead and other tasks which fall within the broad area of expertise of the post.
3. Closing date for applications: 22 March 2022
Candidates should send their applications, along with the supporting documents, to the following e-mail address: primoz.pecnik@fkkt.uni-lj.si
Research Fellow (H017004) at the Department of Analytical Chemistry (PVCare research project) for a fixed-term, full-time contract until 31. 12. 2024. Job Vacancy (deadline for applications: 22. March 2022)
1. Conditions of employment:
- Master’s degree (Bologna II)
- Innovative, able to work as part of a team, good communication skills, organisational skills
2. Brief description of duties
- Scientific and technical research
- Working with research funders
- Preparation of written reports, research papers and expert reports
- Participation in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
- Administrative support related to acquisition of research equipment and its maintenance, procurement of consumables
- Other tasks in the post-holder’s area of expertise as assigned by the HSLL Lead and other tasks which fall within the broad area of expertise of the post.
3. Closing date for applications: 22 March 2022
Candidates should send their applications, along with supporting documents, to the following e-mail address: primoz.pecnik@fkkt.uni-lj.si