ABSTRACT
There are around 13,000 western and Japanese costumes, including accessories and undergarments, in the Kyoto Costume Institute. Among them, plastics are currently some of the most vulnerable and problematic objects. Many of these pieces are made of ephemeral components riddled with inherent vice, which were never intended for long-term use. It is widely accepted in the field of textile and costume conservation that cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, elastic and fully vulcanized hard rubber (ebonite and vulcanite) are malignant plastics. This case study was planned using non-destructive identification techniques (indicator strip tests, air quality monitoring and morphological observations) to identify malignant plastics in costumes and accessories. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to back up the results of the non-destructive identification techniques. A non-destructive cresol red test found three objects that emitted nitrogen dioxides from degrading cellulose nitrate, with an Acid Detection strip test identifying a further two. These objects were swiftly isolated, storage methods were improved and nearby objects of different materials were prevented from suffering secondary damage. Passive dositubes used in air quality monitoring tests can be employed to detect nitrogen dioxide emitted by seriously degraded cellulose nitrate objects.
