retr0brite not so right?

This appeared on the cbm-hackers list today. Anyone have a thought on it? Addresses redacted. ----- Forwarded message from William Levak ----- Subject: re: Anyone know what type of plastic Commodore computers are manufactured from? I have looked at the retr0brite website, and gone throgh all the information there. It is my opinion that this procedure has not been adequately tested, and there is a possibility that this procedure may cause long term damage to the plastic. I am a chemist and have some experience testing resins. The retr0brite information mentions a white "bloom" on the plastic from over treatment. This condition is permanent. It also represents chemical damage to the plastic. A common procedure to determine the chemical resistance of polymers, is to put various reactive chemicals on the surface and determine whether, and how much time it takes for noticeable chemical damage to occur. This usually shows up as a white "bloom", but this is not the only damage. Polymers can also suffer damage that is not visible, but causes the polymer to lose its strength and prematurely "age". The retr0brite information says that you should be careful not to over use the chemicals so that the white "bloom" does not occur. But this does not necessarily mean that chemical damage has not occured. If it takes x amount of time to create the white "bloom", then using it for half that time probably means that half the damage has occured. Whether the damage is visible is not the real question here. It would take aging tests to determine whether the plastic is damaged from the retr0brite procedure. I do not see any indication that retr0brite treated plastics have been subjected to aging tests. -------- Original Message -------- original message for some reason ] Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list ----- End of forwarded message from William Levak ----- -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- We shoulda bought a squirrel. -- "Rat Race" --------------------------------