ISO 14523:1999

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 14523
First edition
1999-03-01
Photography — Processed photographic
materials — Photographic activity test for
enclosure materials
Photographie — Matériaux photographiques traités — Essai d'activité
photographique pour les matériaux de fermeture
A
Reference number
ISO 14523:1999(E)

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ISO 14523:1999(E)
Contents
1 Scope .1
2 Normative references .1
3 Definitions .1
4 Test conditions .2
5 Image interaction test.3
6 Stain test.5
7 Mottle test.6
8 Specific procedures.6
9 Test report .11
Annex A (informative) Colloidal silver image-interaction detector .12
Annex B (informative) Bibliography .13
©  ISO 1999
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Organization for Standardization
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Genève 20 • Switzerland
Internet iso@iso.ch
Printed in Switzerland
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO
member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical
committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has
the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in
liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
International Standard ISO 14523 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 42, Photography.
Annexes A and B of this International Standard are for information only.
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
Introduction
The use of photographic materials for the storage of records having a long-term value has necessitated the
development of International Standards to specify important considerations in this field. Satisfactory long-term
storage is dependent upon three factors:
a) suitability of photographic materials;
b) satisfactory photographic processing conditions;
c) recommended storage conditions.
International Standards have been published which specify the material requirements for silver-gelatin type film
(ISO 10602), diazo film (ISO 8225), and vesicular film (ISO 9718). Specifications for proper processing are also
included in these documents. ISO 3897, ISO 5466 and ISO 6051 specify the storage conditions for photographic
plates, films, and paper prints, respectively.
In addition to the storage conditions, the filing materials used are extremely important. Processed photographic
materials in archival collections require a high degree of individual packaging to protect them from atmospheric
influences, dust, and handling damage, and also to keep them from contaminating each other. For this purpose, a
wide variety of paper and plastic materials is commercially available, fabricated into boxes, sleeves, envelopes,
folders, mat boards, and interleaving tissues. However, it is absolutely essential that these storage enclosures must
not themselves cause harm to the photographic image. For optimum stability, storage enclosures and their
components must meet the requirements in ISO 10214 which includes passing the criteria of the photographic
activity test.
The photographic activity test described in this International Standard is a predictive test of interactions between the
storage enclosure and the photographic image. It can also be used to evaluate possible photographic activity
caused by components of enclosures such as adhesives, inks, paints, labels and tape.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD  © ISO ISO 14523:1999(E)
Photography — Processed photographic materials —
Photographic activity test for enclosure materials
1 Scope
This International Standard specifies the procedure for the photographic activity test.
This International Standard applies to general photographic enclosure materials such as paper, tissue, cardboard,
mat board, and plastics.
It also applies to components of photographic enclosure materials such as adhesives, inks, paints, labels and tape.
This International Standard evaluates possible chemical or photographic interactions between enclosures with
processed silver-gelatin, colour (dye-gelatin) and diazo images after long-term storage. It does not pertain to
important criteria of enclosures such as their inherent chemical stability, physical integrity, and workmanship.
Subclause 8.6 applies to interactions between print albums and both black-and-white and colour (dye-gelatin) images.
2 Normative references
The following standards contain provisions, which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this
International Standard. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to
revision, and parties to agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to investigate the
possibility of applying the most recent editions of standards indicated below. Members of IEC and ISO maintain
registers of currently valid International Standards.
ISO 5-2:1991, Photography — Density measurements — Part 2: Geometric conditions for transmission density.
ISO 5-3:1995, Photography — Density measurements — Part 3: Spectral conditions.
ISO 5-4:1995, Photography — Density measurements — Part 4: Geometric conditions for reflection density.
3 Definitions
For the purposes of this International Standard, the following definitions apply.
3.1
image interaction
measurable density change in the image interactions detector
3.2
mottle
localized non-uniform visual density variation in the image interaction detector
3.3
stain
measurable density increase in the stain detector
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
4 Test conditions
4.1 Principle
The photographic activity test consists of incubating the enclosure material or its component against the surfaces of
two sensitive detectors ([1] in annex B). The photographic density of these detectors shall be measured both before
and after incubation and the density changes compared with those obtained when the detectors are incubated
against a filter-paper control. Three criteria are used to evaluate an enclosure: its tendencies to cause image
interaction, stain, and mottle on the detectors. Specific details for each property are given in clauses 5, 6 and 7. The
test conditions described in clauses 4 through 7 pertain to paper, cardboard, mat board, interleaving tissue, and
plastic enclosures. Modifications of the photographic activity test for enclosure components or interactions with
diazo or colour images are given in clause 8.
4.2 Detectors
Two detectors are used in this test, one for image interactions and one for stain.
1)
The image interaction detector is unprocessed colloidal silver (i.e. Carey Lea Silver) in gelatin on a polyester base .
The stain detector is a conventional non-resin-coated black-and-white photographic paper processed to minimum
density (D ) according to the manufacturer's instructions.
min
A suitable non-resin-coated paper is premium-grade print material having a relatively thick emulsion layer. (A warm-
tone paper base shall not be used.) The paper shall be processed without development, using a fix, wash, hypo-
clearing agent, and wash stages. A satisfactory fix solution is 240 g of sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate and 15 g of
o
anhydrous sodium sulfite added to 1 litre of water at 50 C. The hypo-clearing agent shall be 5 g of anhydrous
sodium sulfite and 26 g of sodium hydrogen sulfite per litre of water. It is recommended that the final washing be for
0,5 h with good agitation. This will avoid uneven leaching of brightener.
NOTE Longer wash times may cause physical distortion. The uniformity of the fluorescent brightener can be checked by
examination using a UV lamp.
4.3 Incubation
o o
Sandwiches of the detectors and enclosure material shall be subjected to an accelerated ageing test of 70 C ± 1 C
and 86 % ± 3 % relative humidity for 15 days. Exposure to these temperature and humidity conditions may be
o o
provided by means of a conditioned air cabinet that provides 70 C ± 1 C and 86 % ± 3 % relative humidity.
NOTE 1 To minimize moisture condensation when placing the sandwiches in the oven, the sandwiches may be put in the
oven when the latter is at room temperature and low humidity. The oven can then be brought to the incubation conditions.
Alternatively, these temperature and humidity conditions can be obtained readily by storing the sandwiches in a
desiccator jar that is placed in a forced-air circulating oven at 70 °C. The 86 % relative humidity can be obtained by
2)
keeping a saturated solution of barium chloride in water [2, 3], at the bottom of the jar . Care shall be exercised so
that the saturated solution contains an excess of undissolved crystals at 70 °C. The surface area of the solution
should be as large as practical.
NOTE 2 Test results obtained in a desiccator are less precise than those obtained in a humidity chamber. This is believed to
be due to the absence of circulating air in the former.

1)
  The sensitivity of the colloidal silver detector is dependent upon the silver grain size and the degree of hardness. To ensure
test sensitivity and reliability, the colloidal silver detector can be obtained from either the Image Permanence Institute,
Rochester Institute of Technology, 70 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA; Agfa-Gevaert AG, Sparte Bild-
Foto, D-51301, Leverkusen, Germany or equivalent.
2)
  The relative humidity is based on the nominal vapour pressure of the salt solution, but the relative humidity tolerance
cannot be specified.
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
3)
The sandwiches shall not be humidity-conditioned prior to incubation . The sandwiches shall be pulled apart after
they are removed from the desiccator or humidity chamber. Failure to do so may result in the adhering of adjacent
layers and detectors.
4.4 Measurement
Status A blue diffuse density of the detector strips shall be measured both before and after incubation at four
locations for each strip. The after-incubation measurements shall be made at the same location as the before-
incubation measurements. The use of a template can aid in establishing the measurement location. Measurements
shall not be made at the edges of the strip. Densities shall be measured on a densitometer having spectral
conformance to ISO 5-3, and geometric conformance to ISO 5-2 and ISO 5-4. Transmission density shall be
determined on the colloidal silver detector and reflection density on the photographic paper stain detector.
5 Image interaction test
5.1 Procedure
A stack of two image interaction test sandwiches shall be made of the enclosure material and the colloidal silver
image-interaction detector. A sandwich shall be constructed so that the emulsion side of each image interaction
detector strip faces a filter-paper separator as shown in figure 1. These two sandwiches shall consist of two strips of
4)
the image interaction detector, two strips of the enclosure material, two strips of a filter-paper separator , and two
pieces of glass. The glass shall be clean and shall be discarded if there are any signs of corrosion. The enclosure
materials and detectors in the sandwich shall be under a pressure of 500 Pa (includes the weight of glass), which
can be obtained by adding weights to the sandwich surface. The enclosure material, filter-paper separators,
detectors and glass shall be cut into strips having the same dimension, being at least 100 mm · 20 mm. Sandwich
construction is facilitated by using a specimen jig (see figure 2) to hold the materials in place.
5)
Two control sandwiches shall also be made using filter paper instead of the enclosure material.
Within any single evaluation, the detector (and the filter paper) shall be from the same batch of material.

3)
  Humidity conditioning is not necessary as the 15 day incubation time and narrow specimen size allow moisture equilibration
to be reached.
4)
  The filter-paper separator is used to prevent any physical interactions between smooth impermeable enclosures and the
detector, as well as any fibre transfer, enclosure sticking, ink transfer or adhesive sticking to the detector surface.
5)
  Whatman Number 1 filter paper has proven suitable.
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
Key
1 Weight to provide 500 Pa (including glass)
2 Glass
3 Image interaction or stain detector
4 Filter-paper separator
5 Enclosure material
1)
6 Uncoated polyester
7 Colloidal silver or D silver-gelatin layer
min
1) Required as an impermeable separator between sandwiches for the stain test only. For the image interaction test, the polyester base of
the detector acts as an impermeable separator between sandwiches.
Figure 1 — A stack of two image interaction or stain test sandwiches
Figure 2 — Specimen jig to hold sandwiches
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© ISO
ISO 14523:1999(E)
5.2 Criteria
Image interaction of the colloidal silver detector shall be calculated by subtracting the final Status A blue diffuse
transmission density from the initial blue density for each of the four locations on each of the two image interaction
detector strips. The before-and-after incubation measurements shall be made at the same location. The mean
image interaction and the standard deviation shall be calculated from these eight density changes. The mean and
the standard deviation of the image interaction values produced by the filter-paper controls shall also be calculated.
Any fibre pickoff from the filter-paper separators or filter-paper controls onto the detector shall be removed by gentle
rubbing. Fibres that are not removed shall be ignored in the evaluation.
The density change of the detector in contact with the enclosure material shall be calculated as a percentage of the
change shown by the detector in contact with the filter-paper control using the following formula:
DDDD−
e f
X= × 100
DD
f
where
X is the image interaction difference, expressed as a percentage;
DD is the density change of the enclosure detector;
e
DD is the density change of the filter-paper control detector.
f
The enclosure material shall not produce a percent image interaction difference in the colloidal silver fade detectors
greater than ± 2
...