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Hi, Sarah,

Thank you for this increased detail. This is one of the reasons that 
your paper was a valuable addition to the literature. No, it did not 
give us a definitive answer, but it helped point the direction away from 
the Bertram and Cuddihy model which certainly Ric thinks is necessary. I 
defer to Ric on this...he's a Ph.D. chemist with a lifetime of 
experience in tape at IBM. Remember, he was the one who made the 
Challenger tapes playable after sitting on the sea floor for a long time.

One of my favourite indicators is the glass transition temperature (Tg) 
of the mag coat. Ric measured one tape that squealed to have a Tg of 
about 8 �C. My contribution to this is coming to the conclusion that if 
the Tg has fallen, chill the tape and recorder to below the current Tg 
and transfer at the reduced temperature. We could look at baking as 
increasing the Tg of the mag coat via whatever means. Tg is only a 
symptom but it relates to the stickyness or more correctly the 
rubbery-ness of the mag coat. The shedding is a separate issue, but if 
the mag coat is sticky, it stands to reason that some of the coating may 
(but doesn't have to) have more affinity for guides than its 
neighbouring molecules.

Do you happen to have specific references to Bhushan's tomes that 
describe this? If they are in your paper I'd love a final electronic 
copy of it.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Richard

On 2013-04-02 10:23 AM, Sarah Norris wrote:
> Having published a sticky shed paper with review from Richard Hess and Ric Bradshaw - and many thanks to them both - I may be able to summarize an understanding of baking that contrasts with the Bertram / Cuddihy view.  Ric could certainly do this more thoroughly, but I will make an effort, as it seems pertinent to the discussion.
>
> Bertram / Cuddihy would say that baking works because increased temperature and reduced relative humidity reverse the hydrolysis reaction by driving off water.  This actually re-makes the binder that holds media in a matrix, at least for a short time.
>
> Bhushan / Bradshaw would likely counter that this is not the case.  Instead, two distinct processes occur during baking.  Increased temperatures soften the binder and allow greater particle mobility within the coating slurry.  Meanwhile, reduced relative humidity drives off water and opens up hydrogen bonding sites between the binder molecules and the media particles.  Though the degraded binder is NOT re-made, the slurry does become more cohesive, at least for a short time.
>
> One critical difference between these two models is the roles played by temperature and RH.  In the Bertram / Cuddihy model, temperature and RH both achieve the same goal: driving off water.  In the Bhushan / Bradshaw model, temperature and RH achieve different goals: temperature softens binder while RH drives off water.  Both tools are required.
>
> My paper (ARSC Journal 41 No.2, Fall 2010) followed the Bertram / Cuddihy model and attempted to achieve baking-like results with only one of two seemingly redundant tools, RH.  I did not achieve predictable results, at least in the time span of the test.  There are several possible readings as to why this happened: one is a support of the Bhushan / Bradshaw model.
>
> -Sarah Norris
>
> Date:    Mon, 1 Apr 2013 17:25:32 -0400
> From:    "Richard L. Hess" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Sticky SHRED
>
> My theory is there is more degradation product which needs to be
> "evaporated" out or otherwise processed. I don't think anyone has
> definitively described the process to a good deal of satisfaction. Ric
> Bradshaw made it plain to me that he doesn't buy the reversible nature
> of the hydrolysis reaction as described by Bertram and Cuddihy. He
> indicated that it just doesn't happen that way in a filled matrix--the
> chain ends can't find their way back through the other material and join
> up. But we know baking works.
>
> 20 °C and 33 % won't fully stop degradation. I do not know what the LoC
> vaults for tape are kept at, but 20 °C is not that cold. 33 % is pretty
> dry. But your tapes are better off than most.
>
> I don't do enough rebakes to know. I have followed Tom's advice for a
> long time. Get a good transfer and be done with it. Ric Bradshaw was
> unequivocal about this as well.
>
> The best reason to keep the original tapes is that we have not recovered
> what Jamie Howarth calls "Mechanical Metadata" from them yet. He's made
> strides towards recovering the mechanical metadata even without
> processing it. There are certainly materials that are worthy of this
> approach. I don't know if there is a business case for this for me or
> other independent restorers.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> On 2013-04-01 5:00 PM, Peoples, Curtis wrote:
>> We have stored our tapes for ten years in an environment averaging 68 degrees F and a RH of about 33%.  It used to take 4-6 hours to bake a tape. We are now at 8 hours. I  am interested to know why these tapes are now taking longer.
>>
>> Curtis
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
>> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 3:42 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sticky SHRED
>>
>> Any theories as to why baking times are increasing?
>>
>> Also, are you finding you need the longer baking times for re-bakes as well as first-time bakes?
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>>

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.