The Role of Humidity Cycling in Accelerated Light Fastness Tests

摘要

The study investigates the fading of prints from 32 different ink/media combinations under three accelerated exposure conditions that are characterized by different sample humidity. All three tests predicted the same ranking of colorant stability. The most humid fading condition produced the strongest degradation in light, except for colorants with strong dye diffusion. The study confirms that for certain types of colorants, light fastness is very dependent on humidity. Fading tests and lifetime predictions should be made for the average humidity that the prints will be displayed at.