Plastics and modern materials

Museum collections contain many types of plastics and other modern materials, which deteriorate in different ways and at different rates. These resources explain how to identify, care for and store such materials in an effective way to reduce their deterioration and the deterioration of surrounding objects.

Preventive conservation guidelines for collections

• Caring for plastics and rubbers

Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes

• N15/1 Care of Objects Made from Rubber and Plastic (1997)
• N15/3 Display and Storage of Museum Objects Containing Cellulose Nitrate (1994)
• N17/1 The Beilstein Test: Screening Organic and Polymeric Materials for the Presence of Chlorine, with Examples of Products Tested (1993)
• N17/2 The Diphenylamine Spot Test for Cellulose Nitrate in Museum Objects (1994)

Other CCI resources on this topic

• Saving the Twentieth Century: The Conservation of Modern Materials (1991)

Related CCI resources

• Agents of deterioration
• Basic requirements of preventive conservation
• Handling heritage objects
• Environmental guidelines for museums

External links

• Care and Identification of Objects Made from Plastic (PDF format) (Conserve O Gram 8/4, 2010)
• Care and conservation of plastic materials (The Institute of Conservation)
• Identification des plastiques et des élastomères : tests miniaturisés (PDF format) (in French only) (Centre de conservation du Québec)
• Care of plastics (Museum of Design in Plastics)