AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

Backing boards are commonly used as secondary supports for artwork but often degrade over time and subsequently adversely affect the primary support. As a fiber furnish, straw was used relatively briefly in paper and board production during the mid-to-late 19th century. Two strawboard samples, one with facing papers, one without, were analyzed to determine their degradative properties and whether they are safe materials to be in contact with artwork. PLM and fiber staining along with SEM identified the fiber furnish as a type of pure straw; ATR-FTIR identified the presence of proteinaceous material and an oil or resin in the facing paper, possibly from an adhesive layer, but lack of such materials within the board; material suitability testing identified one sample as permanent (copper coupon) / temporary (lead and silver coupons); pH testing determined the relative alkalinity of the board samples. While the alkaline pH of the board material suggests a potential benefit to the artwork by slowing degradation, the strawboard material is inherently structurally unstable on its own.