The degradation of cellulose acetate: Advanced analytical tools for non-destructive study of design objects

The preservation of design objects collections require an increase of knowledge regarding the constituent materials and innovative non-invasive imaging tools for a rapid, precise and not destructive assessment of the condition of historic objects. This study focused on the analysis of cellulose acetate: standard specimens have been studied and compared to a well-known Italian design lamp from ' 60s part of the Triennale Design Museum collection (Milano, Italy), the Nesso (TM) lamp produced by ARTEMIDE (TM). The aim of the work is to develop a protocol for material characterization and degradation patterns analysis and evaluate its efficacy for better understanding the cellulose acetate polymer support.