如果含酸性物质的产品接触的到纸质艺术品，照片，纺织物藏品或其他任何藏品，酸性物质就会发生迁移，引起永久性的伤害导致藏品腐烂。这就是为什么使用品质优良的无酸和耐久材料来保存珍贵的艺术品的原因。

使用耐久保存产品来保存艺术品可以减缓藏品老化的过程，延长艺术品的寿命。预防艺术品的损害和老化，预防性的保护比事后的修补更重要。

如果你不是用真正无酸的材料，你将会发现你的文物，纸质艺术品或者照片容易出现褪色或者碎裂。如果储存照片，你更加需要检查你所使用的储存用品对照片是否安全，是否通过摄影活性测试（PAT）。

这个术语是用于表示材料已通过实验室分析定性，并确定他们的酸碱度和保存的属性在安全范围之内。

是指纸张的酸碱度，Ph值的读数是衡量酸性和碱性的。从1-14，每一个读数代表酸性物质增加了十倍，PH中性值为7，无酸产品的PH值为大于或等于7。

这个术语与耐久保存品质类似，但是具体指用于摄影作品的材料。

在19世纪之前，大多数的纸张是使用织物作为原材料的。在1860年左右，造纸工厂开始使用含有酸性物质的碎木料做纸浆、加漂白剂明矾，施松香胶，这样生产出来的纸张含有很多的酸性物质（低PH值）。这些纸张和空气中的水分发生反应，产生了具有破坏性的酸性合成物。这些酸性物质作用于纸张，使纸张纤维缩短，导致纸张变脆，褪色，粉碎，最终变为尘土。

把藏品储存于安全的环境之中，同样重要的是，把你的艺术品存放在真正无酸的储存盒中。

The Photographic Activity Test, or PAT, is a worldwide standard (ISO Standard 18916) for archival quality in photographic enclosures. Developed by IPI, this test predicts possible interactions between photographic images and the enclosures in which they are stored. The PAT can also test the individual components of enclosures, such as adhesives, inks, paints, labels, and tapes. It is possible, as well, to test enclosures that are already in use in collections.

The material to be tested is cut to size and stacked in a "sandwich," with special degradation detectors and various other materials. All of these materials are held together in a stainless-steel jig. A "control" sandwich is prepared using an inert material in place of the test sample. These sandwiches are then incubated in a temperature- and humidity-controlled chamber at 70°C, 86% RH, to simulate aging.

If the detectors incubated with the test enclosures are more faded (or much less faded) or are more stained than those incubated with the controls, then the test material fails the PAT. Instruments are used to measure fading and staining. The pass/fail limits have been derived from enclosures that are known to have caused fading or staining in real-life storage situations. After incubation and sample evaluation, a final report is provided. Turnaround time for testing is approximately six weeks from the time samples are received.