Ink corrosion - Risk factors

Birgit Reissland, Frank Ligterink, Claire Phan Tan Luu (2010)

Being confronted with examples of severe ink corrosion damage, scientists have been investigating the factors responsible for ink corrosion. Over many years detrimental ink ingredients were considered to be the determining decay factor. Due to the autocatalytic nature of the chemical processes involved, ink corrosion seemed an inescapable destiny for all artifacts made with this ink. New results however extend this perspective and include the decisive influence of environmental factors. Those insights are presented in the web tutorials included in this chapter.