Volume 24, Number 1
2000

Buffering Capacities of Enclosures Compared

In March, Australian book, paper and photo conservators held their first joint symposium, with 130 attendees. About 20 of the papers given over the three-day meeting are summarized in the June 2000 AICCM National Newsletter. One of them looked pretty significant:

"Michael Kelly and Vinod Daniel presented their research results on the buffering capacity of various storage enclosures, by measuring their hygrometric half-life—the time it takes for the RH inside the box to change halfway towards the conditions outside. Solander boxes took about 4.3 days to change, as opposed to a polypropylene box which took 0.25 days, both when empty. After measuring the air exchange rate of the enclosures—the time it takes for 1 volume of air change inside the box—they concluded that the materials used in construction were more important to the buffering capacity than how well the box was sealed. However, the contents of the box will also act to buffer the air."