Analytical and experimental study of blemishes formation and preventive conservation of cellulose acetate microfilms

The current study is interested in evaluating the oxidation process that causing redox blemishes on processed microfilms. Images on black and white films are typically formed by metallic silver in a gelatin binder. When exposed to a combination of moisture in the environment and pollutants in the air or contaminants in the film's enclosure, this image silver will corrode. The investigation and analysis made during this work proved that the oxidation agent produced by performing the hydrogen peroxide test, influenced only the silver particles although the gelatin layer and the film base did not suffer from any oxidation. The results of FTIR-ATR showed that the base and the gelatin were affected by hydrolysis regards to the high relative humidity required for the test. Applying a sacrifice layer by sputtering coating showed good results in reducing the formation of the redox blemishes especially in the case of using copper as a sputtering target comparing to zinc for cellulose acetate film samples. © 2019 Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iasi.