Stability of Photographic Film: Part VI—Long-Term Aging Studies

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE J
Volume: 111, No. 4, pp. 136–143
Abstract: Predictions of the life expectancy of photographic film have been based on the extrapolation of high temperature incubation results to practical storage temperatures using Arrhenius-type treatment of the data. On the basis of such tests, estimates have been made of the storage life of photographic motion picture films on cellulose triacetate, cellulose nitrate, and polyester supports. Incubations reported in earlier papers in this series have been extended, and property measurements have now been made on the film after ten years at temperatures of 50°C. Longer term, lower temperature incubations provide greater confidence in the accuracy of extrapolations of film life expectancy to lower temperatures, and the data now reported are the longest term incubations published thus far. Analysis of the extended-term data supports previously reported predictions and indicates that triacetate support has good stability for at least 40 years and polyester support for as long as 1,000 years when stored at room conditions. Nitrate base is highly variable: some materials have a life of 500 years and some show degradation in less than a decade.
Publication Date: 2002-04-01
DOI: 10.5594/J11563
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J11563
Author(s): P. Z. Adelstein
bio
Peter Adelstein joined the Eastman Kodak Co. after receiving a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from McGill University. At Kodak his areas of research included the physical properties of plastics, gelatin, photographic film, and magnetic tape. He retired in 1986 and since then has been a senior research associate at the Image Permanace Institute at RIT. Adelstein, who has been active in standardization activities for over 25 years, has published more than 70 papers on brittleness, dimensional stability, film base, and storage behavior. In 1998 he was awarded the Fuji Gold Medal by SMPTE for his research on the stability of motion picture film and the development of testing procedures to measure film degradation.
J. M. Reilly
bio
James M. Reilly, director of IPI and a professor at RIT's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, SUNY at Buffalo, and RIT. He is well known for his research on the deterioration of 19th century photographic prints, the effectiveness of storage enclosures for imaging materials, and optimizing conditions in storage vaults. The author of numerous publications on those subjects, Reilly is a consultant, teacher, and seminar speaker for many museums and government agencies.
F. G. Emmings
bio
F. G. Emmings is the recipient of B.S. and D.D.S. degrees from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. from SUNY at Buffalo. Following his retirement from dentistry, he joined the Image Permanence Institute, where he is active in the field of preservation science. His interests include the physical properties of film base, image discoloration of photographic paper, paper aging, and the light fading behavior of ink jet prints.
Copyright: © 2002 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Stability of Cellulose Ester Base Photographic Film: Part I — Laboratory Testing Procedures [Active]
Stability of Cellulose Ester Base Photographic Film: Part II — Practical Storage Considerations [Active]
Stability of Processed Cellulose Ester Photographic Films [Active]
Preservation of Motion-Picture Color Films Having Permanent Value [Active]
Stability of Cellulose Ester Base Photographic Film: Part IV—Behavior of Nitrate Base Film [Active]
Stability of Cellulose Ester Base Photographic Film: Part V—Recent Findings [Active]
1. Calhoun J. M. , “Storage of Nitrate Amateur Still-Camera Film Negatives,” Biological Photog. Assn. , 21 : 1 – 13 , Aug. 1953 . EXTERNAL
2. Norris D. H. , “A Survey of the Photographic Collection at the Oakland Museum,” Jan. 1991 , unpublished. EXTERNAL
3. Arrhenius S. , “Über die Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit bei der Inversion von Rohrzucker durch Säuren [On the Rate of Reaction of the Inversion of Sucrose by Acids],” Z. Phys. Chem. , 4 : 226 – 248 , 1889 . EXTERNAL
4. Gray G. G. , “An accelerated-aging study comparing kinetic rates vs. TAPPI Standard 453,” Tappi J. , 2 : 325 – 334 , 1969 . EXTERNAL
6. Bard C. C. Larson G. W. Hammond H. Packard C. , “Predicting long-term dark storage dye stability characteristics of color photographic products from short-term tests,” J. Appl. Photog. Engineering , 6 : 42 – 45 , April 1980 . EXTERNAL
7. Kopperl D. F. Larson G. W. Hutchins B. A. Bard C. C. , “A method to predict the effect of residual thiosulfate content on the long-term image-stability characteristics of radiographic films,” J. Appl. Photog. Engineering , 8 : 83 – 89 , April 1982 . EXTERNAL
9. Reilly J. M. , “Accelerated Aging Tests,” Research Techniques in Photographic Conservation, An International Workshop , Copenhagen, Denmark , pp. 77 – 84 , May 1995 . EXTERNAL
10. Anderson S. Kopperl D. , “Limitations of Accelerated Image Stability Testing,” J. Imaging Sci. and Tech. 37 : 363 – 373 , July/Aug. 1993 . EXTERNAL
11. ISO 18924–2000, “Imaging materials—Test method for Arrhenius-type predictions,” International Standards Organization , Case postal 56, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland . EXTERNAL
13. Adelstein P. Z. McCrea J. L. , “Stability of Processed Polyester Base Photographic Films,” J. of Appl. Photog. Engineering , 7 : 6 : 160 – 167 , Dec. 1981 . EXTERNAL

Source Data (JSON)

Full registry record with provenance metadata. Open directly: /api/doc/10.5594-J11563.json

Reference Tree

Explore all references and references to this document, as a navigable tree.

Open Reference Tree

Reference this Doc

Plain text (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

P. Z. Adelstein, J. M. Reilly, and F. G. Emmings; Stability of Photographic Film: Part VI—Long-Term Aging Studies, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 4, April 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J11563

Snippet:

P. Z. Adelstein, J. M. Reilly, and F. G. Emmings; Stability of Photographic Film: Part VI—Long-Term Aging Studies, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 4, April 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J11563

HTML (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Snippet:

<span class="citation">P. Z. Adelstein, J. M. Reilly, and F. G. Emmings; <cite>Stability of Photographic Film: Part VI—Long-Term Aging Studies</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 4, April 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J11563" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J11563</a></span>

SMPTE's HTML Pub

Preview:

Snippet:

<li>
P. Z. Adelstein, J. M. Reilly, and F. G. Emmings; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j11563">Stability of Photographic Film: Part VI—Long-Term Aging Studies</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 4, April 2002); SMPTE, 2002
<span class="doi">10.5594/J11563</span>
</li>

Referenced By

CST-RT-026-2012 [Active]