Hello All, We bought an oversized flat storage unit from CSI (Crystalizations Systems, Inc.) in 1990 for oversized textile storage. Each tray consists of a welded aluminum frame with a fabric floor stretched onto the frame. It appears that a coating of some sort was applied to one side of the fabric. On every tray, the coating is degrading and in some areas, small amounts of a (now-) liquid component, amber in color, have migrated into paper, Tyvek and muslin sheets that sat in contact with the tray. (Affected sheets have since been replaced.) Some of the trays have the coating on the upper side and some have it on the underside, which suggests that when CSI purchased the fabric, the coating was already in place and CSI was unaware of its existence. (And in fact CSI denies the existence of any such coating.)
In 1997 we bought another unit. The fabric from this unit was not coated and is still in perfect condition. I would like to know if anyone else has seen a similar phenomenon on circa 1990 CSI storage materials. If so, have you analyzed the degradation products? What steps have you taken to safeguard your collection materials stored in the unit(s)? Thank you, Teresa Myers Maine State Museum ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
