Integrating Life Cycle Assessment and Material Suitability Testing: Selection of Sustainable Foams for Supporting Artifacts in a Canadian Context
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Authors
O'Connor, Megan Alicia
Date
2024-09-05
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Sustainability , Foams , Life cycle assessment , Preventive conservation , Cultural heritage , ATR-FTIR , Material testing , Oddy test , Chromatography
Alternative Title
Abstract
As the materials available for cushioning and supporting artifacts change due to innovation, forthcoming policy initiatives, and the growing spotlight on sustainability, it is likely that products available to the cultural heritage field will be different in the coming decades. This thesis project investigated nine different foams for cushioning and supporting cultural heritage artifacts, consisting of recycled content low-density polyethylene (LDPE) foams, a biodegradable LDPE foam, a bio-based foam, and Canadian-made virgin LDPE foams. A life cycle analysis (LCA) using secondary data from the ecoinvent (version 3.9.1) lifecycle inventory database, manipulated using OpenLCA software (version 2.0.2), compared the relative environmental impacts of each foam. The LCA was paired with traditional material suitability tests typically employed in cultural heritage to facilitate decision-making about the potential for a material’s use with cultural heritage artifacts. Three levels of assessment were undertaken, reviewing technical data, executing simple qualitative testing (Oddy testing and compression set testing), and performing compositional analysis (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) to identify potential contents that may negatively affect artifacts. When LCA results and material suitability analysis were considered together, the recycled-content LDPE foams EcoFoam 1.7 and Ethafoam SRC had low global warming potential and presented promising chemical and physical characterization results indicating their potential for temporary use cushioning and supporting artifacts.
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Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International