Arts University Bournemouth receives £100,000 from the AHRC to study how cleaning solvents affect museum plastic artefacts and develop conservation guidelines.
Researchers at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) have been awarded £100,000 to study how cleaning solvents affect museum plastic artefacts and to develop guidelines for the conservation sector.
The one-year project, Nano-Curation of Heritage Plastics: Solvent Cleaning and Ethical Conservation, is funded by a Curiosity Award Research Grant from UK Research and Innovation’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. It will investigate the nanoscopic impact of cleaning solvents on plastic heritage items.
The project is led by Dr Erato Kartaki as principal investigator and Dr Elena Castagnotto as co-investigator, both from AUB’s Plastics Innovation and Curation Research Centre (PlastIC). The team will work with Dr Louise Dennis from the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP) and, as a sub-contractor, Dr Jesse Buijs from the Netherlands-based nanotechnology company NanoMoi B.V.
According to the researchers, interventive conservation of plastics remains at an early stage because of the complex chemical compositions of the materials. Commonly used cleaning agents such as ethanol or isopropanol can leave solvent residues or cause microscopic damage, accelerating deterioration over time.
“Surface cleaning is a critical step in preserving museum objects, but getting the balance right without harming the material is extraordinarily delicate,” explains Dr Erato Kartaki, research fellow in Heritage Science at PlastIC.
“With this research, we are testing nanoscale analytical approaches on plastics for the first time. Our goal is to equip conservators with a robust, evidence-based tool that ensures plastic artefacts can be safely preserved for future generations.”
Using plastic samples from MoDiP’s collection, the project will combine NanoMoi’s nanoscale imaging with PlastIC’s Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis. The team will evaluate how solvent exposure alters the surface structure, chemistry and appearance of common museum polymers.
The project aims to establish standardised protocols across the heritage sector, along with guidelines, training and knowledge-sharing for conservators.
