Researchers from the Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana and the Smithsonian Institution have developed a non-destructive method for characterising surface exudates on PVC objects using high-resolution mass spectrometry. The approach relies on simple dry swabbing, designed to be accessible to museums worldwide, with the collected swabs analysed off-site to reveal detailed chemical information about the surface [...]

This is the overarching question that HSLL researchers Jernej Markelj, Ida Kraševec and Matija Strlič, together with Josep Grau-Bove (Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London) and Evy Vereecken (KU Leuven and Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage), have investigated in a novel study published in the renowned journal npj Heritage Science under the title "A [...]

A new study by HSLL researchers, published in npj Heritage Science, sheds new light on the acidic emissions produced during the degradation of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), a material widely found in heritage collections. In the paper titled “Poly(vinyl chloride) degradation: Identification of acidic degradation products, their emission rates and implications for heritage collections”, Špela Pok, [...]