Designing accelerated ageing experiments to study silk deterioration in historic houses

Abstract

Abstract An accelerated ageing methodology to study silk deterioration is presented. This draws on approaches used in paper and photographic conservation, although the references are not widely available within conservation. The experiments were designed based on the English Heritage silk collection and its display environment. The selection of different light and humidity conditions for ageing will be discussed, including the experimental parameters and equipment. Details on how the ageing time was related to an equivalent display time will be demonstrated. Some of the key observations and problems which occurred during the project will also be outlined. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of using accelerated ageing experiments to study deterioration reactions will be reported.