Effects of temperature and relative humidity on permanence of Buyid silk

Abstract Identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks of improper temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) and their degrading effects on objects is a major issue for museum researchers. Methods that quantify deteriorating characteristics of temperature and RH provide useful information and lead to effective preventive solutions. Time-Weighted Preservation Index (TWPI) is a measure that estimates permanence of the organic materials based on a set of T and RH data for a specific period. In this research, we have used TWPI to assess chemical deteriorations of a Buyid silk stored in a museum storage. Furthermore, with the intention to examine effects of parameter fluctuations, a sensitivity analysis is applied to investigate permanence of the object in diverse sets of temperature and RH. Results of this research show that activation energy of the aforementioned Buyid silk is approximately 96.03 kJ/mol and its permanence is converging to a determined amount that can be interpreted as its remainder useful life. Considering the climate of the textile storage, sensitivity analysis shows that lowering the average temperature to the standard range would result in a remarkable increase on the object's permanence.