This report attempts to isolate and separately examine each
of the factors known to lead to cellulose nitrate decomposition, and then
relate their contribution to the instability of the polymer when it is used as
a bonding agent for ceramics and as a lacquer for metal objects. These factors
include deterioration caused by heat, radiation, or acid impurities, or through
the loss of plasticizer. There is, moreover, decomposition caused
autocatalytically by the initial breakdown products. In particular, the
publication examines new information on chemical changes under ambient
conditions that has been developed recently through advances in analytical
procedures such as chemiluminescence, X-ray scanning spectroscopy (ESCA), and
more sophisticated viscometry. This new information will be added to the large
body of data, collected over the past 150 years, on the instability of
cellulose nitrate under more severe conditions.