n.a procedure that aims to estimate a material’s rate of deteriorationBarrow 1943, 153Upon subjection to accelerated aging tests by baking for seventy-two hours at 100 degrees centigrade, it was found that the silked papers had lost 52 per cent of their folding endurance, those laminated but not treated for acid had lost 31 per cent while those laminated with the acid neutralized had lost but 5 per cent and had no increase in acidity.Calhoun 1967, 522Because polyester base photographic films have been in commercial use only since about 1955, practical experience with this material has been less extensive than with cellulose acetate films. Experience to date and accelerated aging tests, however, have shown that polyester film is equal to or better than cellulose triacetate film in permanence, except for slightly poorer emulsion adhesion under extreme cycling humidity conditions.McCarthy 1969, 340The accelerated aging test takes advantage of the fact that, in general, chemical activity proceeds faster at elevated temperatures than at lower temperatures. A number of scientific studies have explored the problem of accelerated aging vs. natural aging, and it had been concluded that paper stability can be predicted with some accuracy by using accelerated aging tests under specified conditions.Lathrop 1980, 330The U.S. government specifies that the drafting films it purchases must not incur an increase in opacity (yellowing) of more than 5 percent after an accelerated aging test in which the material is heated at 212 degrees F. for ten hours.Roberts and Etherington 1982accelerated aging test. A procedure which is designed to indicate in a relatively short period of time what will happen to materials, such as paper, ink, etc., over a period of years in storage. It commonly involves heating the specimen in an oven under specified controlled conditions. ¶ Although sound in theory, accelerated aging tests are, at this time, of limited usefulness. The reason is that conditions of storage, which vary widely, have a considerable influence on the degree of permanence; also, it is difficult to verify empirically the accuracy of such tests except by experiments conducted over a number of years.Porck and Teygeler 2000, 5Accelerated-aging tests are often used to determine the permanence (i.e., the rate of the degradation) of paper and to predict the long-term effects of a particular conservation treatment; however, there are many questions about the actual predictive value of these tests.Roberts 2007, 83, fn. 56The results of a testing program by an independent testing laboratory have shown approximately 55 percent of the philatelic album pages then available on the market had an unacceptably high acidity level (a pH of less than 6.5). After accelerated aging tests (equivalent to 150 years), only approximately 27 percent of the album pages had a pH above 6.5.
