Hi again,
A little more on the topic. There remain a number of misconceptions about what is "safe" in terms of materials use and treatments for the display of objects. Like most things it is all relative. If you are displaying a lithic item for 3 months you should be much less concerned than if you are displaying a work on paper or a metal object.
If you are enclosing the object(s) within a vitrine you should be more concerned about the materials used in terms of off-gassing than if it is on a pedestal with free air exchange etc...
In a nutshell though -
1) For sensitive materials in an enclosed environment any wood product poses a threat because wood products are basically acidic by nature and by-products will accumulate over time.
2) There are currently no known liquid coatings that function as a real barrier to these by-products.
To view a link to images that illustrate test results of supposedly safe MDF products and a statement about barrier materials from Pamela Hatchfield - Author of "Pollutants in the Museum Environment" (the most concise and authoritative publication on this topic) please click
HERERegards,
Ashley